Powerless
by twosugarsblack
Summary: Forty-five years after the Labyrinth's collapse, Sarah's daughter unwittingly stumbles upon the final trap of the Goblin King meant for Sarah, herself. After finding herself transported to the ruins of the world of her mother's stories, Andie must discover why she was brought to the Kingdom of Whence and then find a way out. However, those of the Labyrinth may not be so forgiving.
1. The Crystal Peach

"Sarah?"

It had been forty-five years since the girl who ate the peach and forgot everything summoned the Goblin King to her world and it had been forty-five years since that same girl had brought the Labyrinth and its master to their knees. She'd returned to her world, victorious with her brother in tow, and they had both remained outside the grasp of the potentially vengeful king for their lives thereafter. Sarah and her half-brother, Toby, had flourished as adults and lived their lives as if the fantastical world of the Kingdom of Whence had never touched them.

"Sarah, darling, come sit down."

Toby had been much too young at the time to have retained any clear memories of the Underground, but bits and pieces of a singing man with mismatched eyes often visited his dreams. Sarah, however, remembered it quite well, though she knew no one would believe her, particularly her father and stepmother when they were alive. She'd kept it to herself over the years until some of the details began to fade, but had kept the important points of her adventure alive once she had children to tell them to. And even now, as her memories and autonomy trickled into a void, they would remember her story by heart.

"Mom?" Sarah's gaze moved incrementally left when she heard a familiar voice; the middle child of their little family, Colette, had joined her at the window. Colette looked relieved and gently took her mother's arm. "Let's go sit down, okay? The doctor will be back in soon." She led their irresponsive mother back to the edge of the hospital bed, gently guiding her down to sit while her siblings, Jeremy and Andie, looked on. Their father was seated in the chair across the room, his fingers drumming against the fabric-lined arms on either side.

There was a palpable silence in the room until the moment the doctor and nurse walked back in. All eyes except Andie's turned to the woman as she explained Sarah's symptoms and the general procedure for moving forward post-diagnosis; Andie was watching her mother's hands as their now-routine tremors darted through the thin network of bones. The soundscape around them blurred to her, but she didn't need to distinguish the doctor's words to hear "Parkinson's" and "dementia" reverberate through the room.

"How long does she have?" Colette asked fretfully from the bed, patting their mother's hand almost annoyingly fast. At least, annoyingly to Andie. She wasn't sure how her mom felt about it. Granted, she wasn't sure how her mom felt about much of anything anymore. She was more often than not in her own little world now and only seemed to talk when Uncle Toby was around or to tell them all stories from when they were kids. "Can she come home? Can you cure it?"

"Parkinson's disease isn't like cancer, it's not terminal. Patients with Parkinson's disease often live just as long as those without it. It simply makes living harder in some areas," the doctor said kindly. "Unfortunately, that also means that our treatments are limited to medication and therapy, which may or may not help… But yes, she can go home. Today, if she feels ready. She took quite a spill yesterday…"

Andie finally removed her gaze from Sarah's shaking hands and looked at the doctor. "So, Levodopa is our best bet, right?" she summarized with a sigh.

The nurse looked surprised, but the doctor kept a smoother expression. "You've looked into this online?" she guessed with a fake smile and a rather condescending tone. Like she only knew things thanks to the newfangled Google machine.

"I'm finishing my courses for a PhD in neuroscience in the fall, so… In a matter of speaking," Andie replied as she smoothed her hair out of her face, faint shadows beneath her crystalline green eyes that were the spitting image of her mother's.

The doctor's lips thinned a bit as she murmured, "Oh. Congratulations," and marked something down on her clipboard. Andie took a bit of pleasure out of her sheepish response; she hated when people underestimated her. "But yes, Levodopa is probably the best way to go in this case," she continued. "I'm afraid therapy may not help with her particular symptoms though your support and the support of any close family will help in ways medication can't. Pets tend to soothe patients as well, in my experience."

"So, that's it?" Colette asked in her normal pinched tone that practically announced her perceived stress level to the world. "That's all you can do? Pills and animals?"

"Jesus, Cole, give them a break," Andie groaned, as her sister had been up the asses of the hospital staff since two that morning, when they'd come in after finding Sarah sprawled in the hallway on the floor, just inches from the stairs. It was a wonder she'd missed them and suffered what minimal damage she had.

Colette shot a look at Andie, but didn't say anything else, allowing the doctor an opening to pleasantly say, "I will fill out the appropriate forms and have a prescription sent to your preferred pharmacy. Apart from that, just… Keep her comfortable and calm. Everything will go more smoothly that way."

With that being said, the doctor left with the nurse and they were alone again. Colette turned her eyes on Andie the moment the door shut. "I hate it when you talk to me that way."

"I hate it when you act like a nutcase in need of a paper bag," Andie shot back, her eyes moving back to her mother's hands. "God, Colette, let go, you're going to break her fingers!" She stood and walked over to them, prying her sister's hands off of Sarah's, which inspired Colette to stand and take her drama to the next level.

"Maybe I'm freaking out because I just found out that Mom is ill! Maybe that's a good enough reason to freak, like what the hell, what do you expect me to do?!" she demanded, manicured hands gesturing erratically with her verbal jabs.

"Pay better attention so you're not so shocked next time," Andie muttered.

"Oh, what's that supposed to mean?" Colette growled, her hands on her hips as she glared toward her sister.

"It means this isn't anything new," Andie said forcefully. "Nothing is different, we just have a word for what's happening now, officially. And if you spent more time around your family, this wouldn't be such a shock to you, this didn't happen overnight."

"I'm _so_ sorry that I work, _Cassandra_ , I didn't realize that wasn't what I was supposed to be doing with my life, but… Oh, wait. That's exactly what I'm supposed to be doing, what are you doing, exactly?"

"Are you really acting like I'm lazy? Really?" Andie sighed. "You have to have a better argument than that."

"Not so much you, but you should really consider who you're talking to," she said pointedly, looking over at their brother with an arched, perfectly shaped brow. "I'm not the one who needs a slap on the wrist."

"Seriously?" Jeremy snapped. This was always how fights went; it would start out between Andie and Colette because Andie always had the balls to say something, but it would end up between Colette and Jeremy because Colette felt that she and their brother shared a more level playing field. Whereas when she fought with Andie, it was the equivalent of her standing in a narrow pit while Andie hurled projectiles down at her. "I get laid off _last week_ and you're calling me lazy?"

"Oh, please, you barely did a thing at that job, you were lucky to have it as long as you did," Colette jabbed, more confident now that she was in a familiar routine, no matter how conflicted.

"Like you were standing over my shoulder, you have no idea what I even did, not that that's anything new! Andie's right, you're never around, so quit acting like you are when you really just like acting like you know everyone's business!"

Andie let the argument between siblings be a calming current of white noise while she processed what she'd already known, her heart breaking for her mother even though her earlier words rang true, even now. There was just an official diagnosis on it now, on what she'd already known. Andie felt a small pressure against her stomach and she looked down to find her mom—her strong, imaginative, happy-go-lucky mom—resting her head against her abdomen like a small child searching for comfort. Andie frowned and gently stroked Sarah's hair while the yelling continued nearby, undulating like a tide. Her eyes moved from her mother's fading ebony crown of hair to her father, who hadn't said a word apart from urging his wife to come away from the window. "Dad?" she inquired softly.

David Wilkinson raised his eyes from the floor to regard his youngest child, who wasn't really a child anymore at twenty-four, he reminded himself day after day. Their gazes met and he gave a sad, tired smile. "I'm all right, sweetheart." Jeremy and Colette had finally quieted in separate huffs for the benefit of their parents, though all involved knew that the fight would be picked up again later. At least something was remaining the same, even if it wasn't something particularly good. "Sarah, are you all right to go home?" Sarah gave a shaky nod of her head after leaning back from Andie and Andie eyed the bandage on her elbow without much concern. She thought again of how lucky it was that she hadn't fallen down the stairs or hurt herself more seriously. "All right, I'll take your mother home."

"I'll ride with you," Colette volunteered, stepping over and gently helping Sarah to her feet while David went to fetch the wheelchair from the corner of the hospital room. Sarah was fairly sure on her feet, it was just her hands that were giving her trouble for now, but Andie had a feeling she allowed herself to be handled for their collective reassurance.

As if sensing her train of thought, Sarah looked at Andie and the corner of her mouth twitched slightly, which was how she smiled now. Andie smiled back and kissed her mother's forehead. "I love you. I'll see you at home."

"Love you, too," Sarah managed softly before Colette eased her into the wheelchair and began walking her down the hallway. David remained behind a moment to talk to Jeremy and Andie.

"Back to job hunting for the day?" David guessed when he looked at his son.

Jeremy nodded. "I have to find something. Terri's off for the summer and on retail earnings until August. We're not in trouble yet, but we will be." Jeremy's wife, Terri, was a middle school science teacher and the two had just welcomed their daughter, Violet, into the world five months before. "Keep me updated on Mom. Please."

"Of course," David murmured, hugging his son firmly before patting his back once and sending him off with a smile and a wave. He then looked to Andie. "Are you off for the summer? Now that finals are done, I mean. They are done, right?"

"I took my last one last Wednesday. But yeah, no summer classes this year. Good thing, too," Andie said quietly. Since it was just the two of them now, they started to walk out together. "I can pick up Mom's prescription on my way home."

"That would be great. So this stuff works, right? I've never heard of it."

"Yeah, it's the most common and the most natural, as far as pharmaceuticals go. After a few years of use, it levels off, but that's normal."

"Good. I count on you to catch that stuff, you know. I'm lost when Big Pharma comes into the picture."

Andie smiled a little as they passed through the automatic doors and went into the parking lot, seeing Colette helping Sarah into the front seat of the Subaru. "I know. I'm on it."

"What about side effects? Sometimes those are worse than the condition," David asked apprehensively.

"Nausea. Lightheadedness. That is to say, maybe set up in one of the guest bedrooms downstairs for awhile so she doesn't have to get on the stairs again," Andie suggested in a lowered voice.

"Good call. I'll see you at home," David said, hugging her tightly before getting in on the driver's side and starting up the car. Colette rolled the wheelchair forward and silently asked Andie to take it back up to the hospital with just a quirk of her brows. Andie nodded and took the chair, earning a kiss on the cheek from her sister before she got into the SUV as well. Andie took the wheelchair back up to the entrance, where a senior greeter accepted it with a big, overly enthusiastic smile. The guy had to be ninety and seemed to be in great health and mentality, Andie thought as she walked to her own car a few rows into the lot.

So why was her mother sentenced to a medicated, frustrating, and eventually fully assisted life at only sixty years old?

* * *

After three days on the medication, Sarah was like brand new. Physically, at least. She barely needed help to do much of anything, but Colette continued to stay with them at the house, particularly when David had to go to work, and Andie had stayed over to make sure the medication was working as it should and to help her dad with the house, even though that was why Colette was supposedly staying there. Jeremy visited when he could, once with Terri and Violet, but it wasn't much, considering the circumstances. Even in Sarah's still dementia-influenced state, Andie could tell she noticed and she could've kicked her brother, even though he was trying his best to support his new family.

Sarah's vocalization problems had lessened considerably, but she still spoke more softly than was normal for her. And more often than not, she'd hold a solid conversation before completely derailing onto either a different tangent or simply forgetting she was having a conversation in the first place and just stopping altogether. What was perhaps the most endearing—though strangest—aspect of this, however, was that she was beginning to recount the old fairytale she'd read to them as kids as if it had actually happened to her. Where there had once been a solid separation between the story and the reader, there were now phrases along the lines of, "Oh, you should have seen them!" or what particular things smelled, looked, and tasted like. At times, it was so vivid, Andie was hard pressed not to believe her.

Sarah was in the midst of describing what their storybook had referred to as "The Bog of Eternal Stench" when Colette finally snapped. "Mom, just stop!" Sarah quieted and looked surprised. "That was a story you told us as kids, you were never there! _No one was_ _because it's a fairytale_. It doesn't exist!"

Sarah looked like she was grappling with holding back tears. "Yes… Yes, it does…"

Andie glared daggers at Colette. "Really? You really had to do that?"

Colette threw her hands up. "I just… It's… Mom, no, I'm sorry, I didn't mean…" But their mother had tears rolling down her cheeks and wore such a childlike expression of hurt, it sliced them both through to the core. "I-I don't know what to do…," Colette finally murmured, holding back tears of her own now.

"What happened?" David asked when he came in, immediately going to his wife and looking her over, afraid she'd hurt herself again.

"Colette just hurt her feelings, I think," Andie sighed, holding her mom's hand.

David kissed Sarah's forehead and gently held her in his arms before looking to Andie. "Do me a favor and go into our bedroom. There's a box of her old things we never unpacked when we moved here. Bring over the little princess music box, it seems to calm her down when she gets like this."

"On it," Andie said, gently squeezing her mom's hand before letting go and heading upstairs. They'd been sleeping in the downstairs guest room as she'd suggested, but most of their stuff that wasn't used on a daily basis was still upstairs. She entered the room, flipped on the lights, and went over to the closet, sliding the door aside and checking the floor first before backing up a few steps to peer at the top shelves. It took two haphazard tries for her to pull down the right box, finding the music box right on top inside. She was about to go back downstairs when a glimmer caught her eye.

The lamplight had caught on the edge of what appeared to be a paperweight. Andie smirked a bit and lifted it from its tissue paper cradle in the box, thinking as she did, _I've never seen one shaped like a peach before. It's way too light to be a paperweight, so it's just for decoration, I guess_. Aloud, she only gave a quiet, "Hmph."

She brought the music box back to her dad and he cranked it up before handing it to his still teary wife, who held it daintily in her hands. It worked its magic after the first few seconds, her eyes fixed upon the girl in the center as the melody crooned from the mechanism. David took her to the guest room once she was calm, as she'd worn herself out from the emotions of the moment. Andie was looking at the crystal peach again when he came out of the bedroom. "Like it? You can have it."

"What is it?" Andie asked. "I don't remember ever seeing it before."

"It turned up when Sarah was packing up her bedroom to move in with me before we got married. She had no idea where it had come from and neither did I." He looked at the peach considerately. "I think we agreed that it was probably a present from her father at some point and we just never got rid of it."

"Weird," Andie commented, though she rewrapped the tissue around it and placed it in her purse on the counter.

"Right?" he agreed before looking at the time. "It's getting late. Do you have work tomorrow?"

She shook her head. "No. I'll probably be over in the afternoon after some errands. Anything I can pick up for you?"

"I don't think so. You can sleep over, if you want," he offered.

Andie smiled and shook her head again. "I ought to check on things. I slept over the last two nights. But I'll be back."

"All right, sweetie. I appreciate all the help over the past few days," he told her when she went over to hug him. "Seriously, I don't think it would've all gone this smoothly without you here, too."

"I just wish I'd known sooner, I could've come up from school more."

"Your education needs to be your number one priority. I didn't want to worry you and I think your mother would've agreed that you needed to focus on school."

"I know, but…," she sighed, feeling guilty that her dad had been in this alone until now. "I guess you're right."

He smiled kindly. "I know you feel bad, but please don't. We're going to make this work. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Yes, you will," Andie smiled, giving him one more hug before picking her purse up off the counter and heading out to her car.

* * *

Andie pulled into the lot of her apartment complex just before midnight and locked up her car before heading up to her little abode. She took out her keys and unlocked the door, locking back up once she was inside and moving the deadbolt in place as well. The stress of the past four days finally crashed in on her and she leaned against the door, tears rolling from her eyes and falling off to moisten the mat under her feet. After a few moments, she leaned away from the door and went into her bedroom to set down her purse, then did a walkthrough of her apartment, which didn't take long considering its size.

She returned to the bedroom and opened up her bag, taking out the tissue wad containing the glass peach and deciding her desk would be a nice place for it, as it was more or less barren along with the rest of her modestly furnished apartment. Andie unraveled the tissue and plucked up the peach by its little glass leaf, but a stinging sensation sliced through her fingertips at the contact.

"Ow, _shit_!" Andie gasped and nearly dropped it, managing to drop it into her other hand rather than the floor so it didn't make a mess. "Who the hell makes something like this sharp enough to…" She had just looked at her hand. There were slits in her forefinger and thumb, blood beading and trailing from each normally at first. And then the trails began to divide. They became more intricate, dodging around each other down her palm, seeming to defy gravity as they created an intricate pattern quite like…

Quite like a maze.

Blood dripped off Andie's hand to the paneled floor and she had just enough time to gasp before the wood parted and swallowed her whole.


	2. Into the Labyrinth

Andie had no perception of how long or how far she fell after the floor had opened up its maw beneath her. The sensation was akin to falling asleep and then waking up; it all happened within an instant, but not at all. She winced awake when she hit solid ground, accidentally biting her lip and splitting it with her teeth. Andie opened her eyes slowly and pushed herself to a sitting position, touching her fingertips to where her lip now throbbed. They came back with a smear of blood.

The blood reminded her of her hand and the peach and she looked down at her hand first, but the wounds there were closed. The peach had been knocked from her hand and lay a few feet away, but by the time she looked at it, it was shimmering faintly and obscured by a white glow. Andie blinked a few times to try to get her eyes to focus, thinking she'd jostled her head upon impact or something to that effect. Maybe jostled was too light a word; it looked like the glass peach was changing, turning into…

 _A dagger?_ she wondered when the light faded, leaving behind a daintily curved, but lethal, blade, all silver, steel, and glass accents. Andie scrunched her eyes shut once more before opening them again, even though she knew even she wasn't that imaginative. At least, not anymore; the real world had done a good job of sucking the imagination out of her since childhood. The dagger was still a dagger when she opened her eyes, but that only fazed her a moment before she looked beyond the bit of stone in front of her and really took in her surroundings.

It was a stone labyrinth. At least, what was left of one.

"What is this place…," Andie murmured under her breath, her eyes devouring every detail they could reach and trying to make sense of it all. The endless stretch of rubbled pathways, the fissures in the ground, and the most troubling of all, the way the reality of it seemed to warp. Physics apparently did not apply in this place of ruin, as chunks of the maze floated freely through space, puzzle pieces on parade while the sky appeared blotchy in places. Stretches of black, then some of starlight, and finally some of purest, cloudless blue. There was a portion of a thunderstorm as well, but only for about eight square feet. It didn't make any sense except, when she thought about it, about the Labyrinth of her mother's stories, it did. "It can't be."

"Oi! You there!"

Andie visibly startled when a voice—though small—penetrated the quiet, her hand immediately falling on the handle of the dagger near her knee. When no one showed, she called tentatively, "Yes?"

"Over here!" the voice came again, this time in a more definite direction. Her gaze followed the sound and the voice spoke again. "Tha's right! Come 'ere!"

Andie took in the huge gap between the still connected path she sat upon and where she thought the voice was coming from, which was one of the wayward sections of maze lightly twirling through space. "I can't!"

"Sure you can! Just jump!"

"Oh," Andie murmured, unconvinced. "I don't think so…" It looked like much too far a leap.

"C'mon, take a leap of faith!" the little accented voice said.

Andie frowned deeply and shook her head. "Maybe another time."

"A'right. Take care!"

"Thanks," Andie said softly as she stood, looking ahead toward the broken labyrinth, the dagger now resting in her hand. Deep into the maze, elevated above the rest, was a half-crumbled castle. Perhaps someone there could help her. If anyone was there at all. At least now she knew she wasn't alone in this place, but Andie couldn't decide if that comforted or disturbed her.

She took a deep breath and sighed. "Doesn't matter now," she told herself as she took her first steps forward, gaining confidence as she walked and it proved to be as real as the world she'd been plucked from. She reached the entrance to the Labyrinth and hesitated, taking a look at the exterior and the brush lining it, hearing the trickle of water somewhere nearby, which caused her to be suddenly aware of how ill-prepared she was to be in an environment like this, namely because she didn't know how long she'd be here. "I guess I'll just have to chance it," Andie realized as she entered the Labyrinth, wishing she had a canteen to fill if only to make herself feel prepared.

Her first choice of direction came immediately and both options seemed to stretch on for miles. Andie opted for the right, avoiding roots and branches that littered the path in addition to the rubble. The first turn she reached wasn't really even a turn; it was a place where the wall had been separated, taking a bit of the ground with it, it seemed. Andie looked further down the path, but saw no other turns, so she opted to take her chances on this cheat. She carefully placed the dagger between her teeth to free up her hands before stepping onto a ledge of the wall, trying not to look down into the void she was crossing. Once she was as close to the edge of the broken wall as she could get, she gripped the other side and swung herself around.

The makeshift ledge she was relying on broke off when she hurled her weight onto it and she at least had the forethought to spit the knife before she hit the ground, not wanting to add a Joker smile to her troubles of the day. Andie groaned and pushed herself up, knowing she was going to be sore as hell by the time she got out. She took up the dagger again and continued walking, following the same path for what felt like miles until she didn't have another turn to make. "Dead end. Dammit," Andie sighed, looking around for another way through.

The rock in front of her groaned and began to slide down like a panel, making her step back reflexively. At first she was hopeful, like this place would help her somehow, even if it was only a place. However, the clinging and grinding of metal parts made her rethink that. _Oh. Literal dead end_ , she thought sarcastically when she saw the clawed, scraping abomination of a machine working its way toward her. She turned and sprinted back the way she'd come, having to dodge as a metal spike reared through the wall beside her and more began to come up just inches shy of her feet through the ground. She pushed herself to run faster and faster still until she saw where she'd fallen and eyed up the void. It was too far. But she had no choice.

The cogs of the mechanism still scratching and pummeling anything it could reach behind her, she sprinted four more paces before jumping with as much force as she could muster. The gap seemed to shrink as soon as she was airborne and she landed easily on the other side. She stared wide-eyed at the gap, which had to have spanned a good twenty feet, but didn't question it, just smiled in utter shock and hoped that machine wasn't a jumper. To her relief, it continued chopping at the ground and promptly fell through the hole, its grating noises silenced when it disappeared. Apprehensively noting how final falling through the cracks seemed to be, which didn't surprise her so much as unnerve her, she stepped away and went down the other path, hoping this one would prove more useful. Or at least less dangerous.

* * *

With so much of the Labyrinth warped, off in random directions, or in crumbling heaps, it was hard for her trek through the remaining pathways not to feel aimless and rather pointless. What if where she needed to go was one of the stone islands no longer connected to the main piece? Where did she need to go, anyway? Where was she even trying to go except home, when she hadn't a clue where that was in correlation to this place? Andie had a lot of questions and, unfortunately, a shortage of answers. And supplies, on top of that.

Wetting her dried lips and wincing when her throat stung with thirst, Andie wished she'd had something to drink while still at her parents' house. Then maybe she wouldn't be so thirsty. It was hard to keep track of time while she wandered the Labyrinth, but it had been at least two hours and she felt as if she'd made little to no progress. The amount of frustration she felt was only curbed by her need to focus and her preoccupation with her rumbling stomach and other bodily discomforts. Her legs were starting to get sore, but she didn't want to stop yet.

Andie came to the end of one of the walled stone paths, but she noticed there was a deep fissure between the path and what lay beyond. The edges didn't quite match up, which gave her the feeling that the two pieces of the maze had more ended up touching by accident. She was glad to see grass again though.

The fact that the grass was attached to a dense forest, however, unnerved her. She grimaced before stepping over the narrow fissure and continuing into the new terrain, warily looking over the towering trees with their drooping, thickly leaved branches and the mossy rocks decorating the slightly hilly ground.

"This is going to do a number on my legs," she murmured, thinking about how her already sore feet wouldn't be faring well by the time night fell, if it fell at all here.

"Legs?" a voice screeched above her, breaking the quiet and startling her so much that her heart jolted. Andie whirled and looked up, accidentally tripping backward over a root. She tried to catch herself, but was caught instead by two bony hands with long, faintly yellowed claws and heard the same voice say into her ear, "You can try on mine if you like!"

Andie screamed and jerked away, scrambling to her feet and backing away from what looked like a mix between a chicken and a monkey, all fiery orange hair and small pointed teeth inside a long snout, and still its eyes were the wildest quality of the strange creature. For the first being she'd come across in the Labyrinth other than that damn machine, it wasn't a very good first impression of the living things that thrived there.

"Or mine!" came a higher, but equally screechy voice in the tree nearby and, before she knew it, a pair of projectiles nearly smacked into her, but she dodged against a nearby tree. When she looked, she found that they were wobbly-kneed, orange, and dismembered legs. And still moving.

"Oh, my god," Andie gasped, hurrying away from the now autonomously trotting appendages and listening to the creatures' keening laughter behind her on the ground and in the trees. She heard at least five individual voices in that amount of chatter and guffawing, but knew there would probably be more with her luck.

"Hey, where ya goin'! The party's not even started yet!" came a voice from just to her left and she reflexively swung the dagger out at another creature, this one a hot pink. The thing's head popped off and spun above its neck and the knife sliced only through air. "Now that's no way to say 'hello'! I almost lost my head!" More maniacal laughs ensued and they were louder. These things—whatever they were—were closing in. "C'mon, trade with me, you owe me a new head!"

"Leave me alone!" Andie shouted, holding her dagger out in front of her.

"What's your problem, come 'ere!" the pink one crowed and Andie felt something wrap around her neck. She dropped her knife and immediately panicked, reaching up and grabbing onto whatever held her, which turned out to be the tail of another crazed creature. "Give her a twist and then we can get started!"

"Stop it, let go of me!" she yelled, giving up on loosing the tail and instead pulling on it so the creature fell out of the tree. It yelled, too, when it lost balance and fell, but she ended up being pulled down with it and they knocked into its comrades, who rolled around and laughed, arms popping off left and right while the pink one's head detached again and went for a roll. Some clanging sounds silenced the group and they all paused before collectively looking toward the sound.

It was that machine again, but Andie hadn't a clue where it could've come from and it was heading toward another void in the ground anyway. Predictably, it dipped down and slid into the dark hole of matterless nothingness.

Unpredictably, it reappeared out of a dark section of sky nearby and crashed down, continuing its collision course straight toward them.

 _Wormholes_? Andie wondered just before it occurred to her that she needed to get up and start running. The creatures were already off their rockers and scrambling, screaming and laughing all at once as they flailed their limbs and collected their disagreed appendages to hightail it away. "It's a cleaner!" one screeched.

"Who invited a cleaner?!" the pink one cackled as it swung itself into a tree.

"Was it you?" one with red and orange plumage shouted, whirling toward where Andie had been, but she'd already grabbed her dagger off the ground and taken off at a sprint through the trees. "Oi! She's getting away!"

"Where ya goin', little girl, come back!" she heard them crow behind her, which just inspired her to run faster, narrowly avoiding obstacles in her path. The section they were all on had started to move a bit under all the commotion and when she finally saw a sandstone path again, it was sliding past the edge of their piece.

Andie cursed and ran along the edge of the fissure as it scraped along the Labyrinth, chasing after the walled path and just hoping she wouldn't run out of ground before she could catch it. She still heard the roar of the cleaner and the shrill whoops of whatever those orange things were behind her and just as she was about to run out of ground, she caught up with the edge of the path and hurled herself onto it, landing roughly on the rocks as the wayward forest scraped free of the main portion, sailing to join the other detached areas in the vicinity. The island tilted back and forth as the creatures evaded the cleaner they were now trapped with for the time being, their hollering still audible even as they drifted out.

She watched them float away as she caught her breath, sitting on the edge of a void painted like a galaxy. Had she been in a better state and able to leave at will, she might've admitted that it was beautiful. Stars didn't look like this in the reality she knew, but it was close enough to pictures she'd seen taken in space that it was the most familiar thing about all this. Her throat felt a little dry as she looked down and saw her feet dangling over nothing, so she very carefully eased herself backward onto the stone path and stood.

Andie took one more glance over her shoulder at the patchwork universe around her before murmuring, "Come on, feet," softly to herself and urging herself onward.


	3. The Girl Who Forgot Everything

_"How did the beginning go?"_

A smile of anticipation and clearing her throat to prepare. _"Through dangers untold. And hardships unnumbered. I have fought my way here to the castle; beyond the goblin city, to take back the child that you have stolen. My will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom as great—"_

 _"You have no power over me!_ " Andie had finished triumphantly.

Her mother had grinned and shaken her head a little. _"Exactly. I could never remember that line when I was your age, despite being obsessed and, well, very taken in by the story."_

 _"It's the only part I can always remember. Do you remember it every time now?"_

Sarah had smiled as if she'd had a secret just hiding beneath the surface of her words. _"Every time."_

* * *

Andie heard her mother's voice in her head reiterating the tale again and again and the conversations they'd had in her childhood about the heroine's speech to the Goblin King and the ups and downs in the journey, conversations that had slowly fallen to a minimum as she grew older and the stories remained stories of a perceivably distant past.

"Not so distant now," she murmured to herself as she looked at her stone-dusted sneakers. She'd finally given in and sat down against the wall once she'd come to a fork in the path, her head resting back against the sand-colored rock behind her as she contemplated both paths without much commitment. Andie swallowed and grimaced when it stung; the flesh of her throat felt raw with thirst and she was starting to lose hope of getting out of this wretched place. Of course in this world of nonsensical things, her body's needs were still applicable and persistent, and there was nothing to sate them growing or springing in the Labyrinth's reaches. Had those weird monkey creatures not swarmed on her in the forest, she might've checked out some of the plant life, but that option was long gone. The cleaner had likely chopped it all into an enormous salad by now.

 _Good lord, I_ must _be hungry if even a salad sounds good_ , Andie thought miserably just as something moved out of the corner of her eye. She looked in the direction of the movement and realized it was a stone square in the floor rocking around in place until a tiny creature lifted it free, chattering madly about foot odor while what she assumed was a companion yammered back from below the opening. It was the ugliest little thing she'd ever seen, even taking the cake from the bird creatures she'd seen earlier, but she needed help. "Excuse me?"

The thing whirled in her direction and gave a high-pitched squeal before dropping back down, the tile clattering back into place. "Hey, wait!" Andie shouted, scrambling to the tile and attempting to pry it upright with her nails. When that failed, she attempted to use the dagger point, but it was to no avail. "Dammit," she murmured as a few stray tears of frustration slid down her cheeks. She swiped them away and stood up, looking down both pathways considerately. "Left," she sighed softly after some time, her tone lacking any form of confidence even as she straightened her posture and began her trek down the path.

Andie's nerve withered the further she walked, coming to forks again and again and having to choose based on whims. She finally chose wrong, coming to a dead end and just finding herself relieved that another cleaner didn't pop out of the wall. She turned around and began to head back the way she'd come, saying softly, "There's no rhyme or reason to this place…"

"And why should there be?"

Andie stopped in her tracks and turned slowly, her eyes widening when she saw two doors with double-headed guardsmen—both of whom resembled playing cards in their configuration—at posts before each. "That… That was just a dead end. Where did you come from?"

"A dead end? You mean behind you!" The guardsmen all snickered, putting their faces behind their armor and chuckling at her apparent obtuseness.

Andie looked behind her and the path she'd come from had been sealed and was now, just as they said, the dead end. "This is a horrible place. I suppose I'm lucky the entire place doesn't just turn upside-down."

"I would not say that too loudly, girl," one of the bottom guards chuckled and the other three laughed merrily as if this were all some large inside joke. "The walls listen, you know."

"Okay," Andie muttered dismissively, though she didn't doubt that there was likely some truth in his words. "So, what now? I can't go back that way. I assume I have to talk to you two… Or four…"

"Indeed, miss. You've got to decide on a door."

"One leads to the castle at the center of the Labyrinth. And the other leads to—" He paused for dramatic effect. "— _certain death_." The guards collectively _ooh_ -ed. Andie had the feeling she was supposed to be impressed and arranged her features to appear so, thinking maybe this would up her odds for getting their help. "But we cannot tell you which is which. You have to decide for yourself."

"Do you know which leads to which?"

The top guards looked at one another, seeming to be prepared for this. "We do."

"But you can't directly tell me… Right?"

"Well, we can… However, you can only choose one of us to ask," the red guard said.

The blue guard then chimed in, "But we should warn you: one of us always tells the truth."

"And one of us always lies," the red guard added. "I'll tell you now, miss, I make it a habit to tell the truth!"

The blue guard guffawed, "What a lie!" Andie arched a brow at them, taking what she could from their banter, already formulating a guess as to who was who. Finally they all stopped and stared at her expectantly. "Well? We're ready! Do not even think of asking us about each other because we—"

"What's two plus two?"

The guards both faltered. "…What?" the red guard asked, bewildered.

Andie directed her question at him. "What is two plus two?"

The red guard paused heavily before answering, "…Six?"

Andie looked at the blue guard. "Now you."

"Four," he mumbled in defeat.

"Perfect," Andie praised, asking, "which door will take me to the castle?"

The blue guard sighed noisily before relenting. "…His."

"Thank you," Andie said and moved to the red guard's door, which swung open for her at the gentle press of her hand. "It's been fun, you two. Er, four."

Just before she let the door swing shut behind her, she heard the blue guard say to his companion, "Sharp, that one. More direct than that other girl that came through here before."

Andie hesitated before leaning back through the gap and asking, "What girl?"

The blue guardsman looked startled, but answered, "It was millennia ago, before the Labyrinth was destroyed. A girl came through and had a really backwards method of solving our riddle. Smart, just had the wrong idea."

"Do you know what her name was?" she asked quietly.

"No? Why should we?"

Andie frowned and shook her head. "No reason. Thanks."

She was almost through the door again when the blue guard noted, "You know, she looked a fair amount like you. Mostly in the eyes. She was the last human we saw come through here. Never did find out what happened to her."

"Do we care?" the red guard asked doubtfully.

The blue guard shrugged. "How do we know if we care if we don't know?"

"Hm. Fair enough," the red guard relented.

Andie paused thoughtfully before stepping through the door and shutting it behind her. "For the record, she made it out," she murmured under her breath, looking down the new pathway. The walls of stone had become walls of hedge, but not much else had changed. Better than certain death, at least.

"I should've asked him for directions… Or some answers to all this," Andie murmured, even though it seemed as though they were pretty clueless apart from what their job entailed. "At least they were borderline sane. Hopefully they're not the only mostly stable ones in this place."

* * *

She ended up having to stop again after a few more turns, so exhausted she was afraid she'd collapse in a more inopportune environment if she didn't rest. Andie sat down against the wall and it seemed as soon as her back hit the wall and she loosed an exhale of relief, that large portion of sky she'd seen swirling with dark clouds and lightning flashes shifted overhead and rain began to pour down all around her. Andie winced a bit and peered up at the angry gray cloud, but soon simply opened her mouth and tilted her head back, the droplets like tiny little blessings on her aching throat.

After a few minutes of catching water past her lips and in her hands to sip, Andie decided she was done with the downpour, despite it seeming far from done. After her thirst had subsided, she realized she was back in the sandstone maze paths, but only for a few more feet. This was yet another mismatched section of maze, but it looked oddly familiar…

"Allo!"

Andie jumped, but glanced left for the voice's origin. Then right. And then left again. Finally, she turned a bit more and noticed a blue spot out of the corner of her eye. "Oh… Was that you?"

"Sure was," the tiny little caterpillar or worm, she couldn't tell which, said chivalry.

"Well, then… Hello to you, too." She couldn't help but notice the worm was toting a little red umbrella with a hole on the side and found the entire scene rather charming. "Say, do you know the way? To the castle at the center of the Labyrinth?"

"Oh, blimey, why would you want to go there?"

"Because I'm trying to find a way back home. I'm not from this place and I don't know where else to go."

"Just you, then? No baby to find?" the worm asked with polite concern.

"Um… No? Why would there be a baby?"

"That's just what the way of things were last time is all. She was looking for her brother, she was."

"Who was?"

"Come on inside, you're soaking wet!" the worm suggested.

"Inside?"

"Yeah, my home is right here! Come on inside and meet the missus."

Andie's eyes widened and she realized where she recognized his voice from. "Wait, were you the one trying to get my attention earlier?"

"Yes, that was me! You looked a bit lost."

"I am lost. How could someone not be lost in here?" Andie wondered dismally.

"By staying in the same place, I suppose. Though that doesn't seem to count for much anymore, as you can see," the worm commented. "Come along!" He began to shuffle along to a crack in the wall.

"I can't fit in there," Andie protested.

"Sure you can!" the worm insisted, poking his little head out. "Just come in!"

He disappeared back into the crack and Andie frowned deeply at the small space, thinking it couldn't be that easy. Andie chided herself for taking advice from a worm even as she stood, closed her eyes, and hesitantly took a couple of steps forward. When she didn't hit a wall within that second step's span, she felt very confused and opened her eyes only to startle at the sight before her. The blue worm was now as high as her shoulder and they were in a very small, homey kitchen. A kettle steamed on the stove while another worm—this one a nice shade of purple—put together a tea tray. "See? Nothin' to it! Dear, we have a guest for tea!"

"Oh, lovely!" the other worm said with approval.

"Can I help?" Andie offered, wondering how the female worm managed to make up tea with no hands to work with.

"Oh, no, dear, it's almost ready," she said. "Have a seat." Andie looked around and saw that the blue worm had shuffled up to a table nearby, looking at her expectantly with a pleasant smile on his face. She followed suit and ended up on her knees at the table to be the right height, at last until the lavender worm turned around. "Oh, dear, Aldo, she's not a worm! Go 'n' get her a proper seat!"

"Do we have proper seats?" Aldo asked in surprise.

"Yes, yes, in storage!" she fussed, rolling a tea cart to the table. The blue worm still looked surprised, but inched off toward a hallway leading away from the kitchen.

"Your home is quite—"

"Quaint?" the lavender worm guessed.

"Adorable," Andie finished with a smile.

"Oh! Well, thank you, miss. What's your name again?"

"Andie," she replied, moving a tendril of rain-soaked hair from her face.

"Oh, I should be getting you a blanket, dear, you're soaked through. Anyway, my name is Grita. You already met Aldo, yes, indeed," Grita said as she inched toward a blanket folded nearby. They both had accents that resembled a softer form of the Cockney variety. " 'Ere you go, love." She draped the blanket around Andie's shoulders.

Andie pulled it more snugly and said, "Thank you. What happened here? Or has the Labyrinth always looked like this?"

"Oh, no, it was all in one piece years upon years ago," Aldo remarked as he inched back in, a stool on his back that he shifted into an upright position for Andie at the table. "Then it broke into what you see out there."

"Why?"

"The magic left, I imagine. Or it stopped." Grita looked concerned as she nudged the tray onto the table. The cups nearly scattered, but Andie reached out and caught them, earning a grateful look from them both. She still hadn't a clue of how they managed to cook or make tea in this place, but there was tea steeping in the pot and little sandwiches on a plate, sure enough. Andie picked up a sandwich, wondering what these worms ate, and nearly praised the heavens that they appeared to be just lettuce and tomato on toast. She could work with that. "Large cracks just began to appear from the center and here we are."

"And you have no idea what might've caused it?"

Aldo looked down thoughtfully. "Well, there was that girl. She passed by hours before everything fell to pieces." He inched a little closer. "You know, I 'eard she defeated the Goblin King at his own game, she did. Threw everything he could a' her and she still walked out of 'ere with that baby. At least, that's what good Sir Didymus said after."

"Sir Didymus?" Andie repeated, prompting more of an explanation.

"You'd be able to find him in the Bog, though I don't recommend you go there," Grita assured her.

"Why not?" She rather wanted to talk to this fellow if he knew something more than the others she'd met. "Is he…well, nice?"

"Very, he's got quite an energy about him. And no one wants to go to the Bog, 'cept him because that's his post. Lost his sense of smell awhile back, he did… Elsewise, he's mental," Grita chuckled. "The Bog of Eternal Stench lives up to its name a thousand times over, so I hear. Never been there, myself. Never felt so inclined."

"I wouldn't either, it sounds dreadful," Andie murmured as she took a long sip of tea now that it had cooled, having put down three finger sandwiches while discussing Sir Didymus and the Bog. "Sorry, I haven't eaten in… Well, a long time now. My manners are slacking."

"Oh, don't worry about that, love, help yourself."

"Thank you," Andie said with relief, glad someone in this place was kind and level-headed. "So is the Goblin King still around?"

"I'm sure he is since all the rest of us are," Aldo noted. "I haven't 'eard of anyone seeing him since the collapse."

"He's not in his castle?"

"It's unlikely anyone's gone there, dear," Grita noted. "It was avoided anyway and now that it's in shambles, it's doubly dangerous. Especially if _he_ 's there."

"Is he evil?" Andie asked warily, wondering if she should be going elsewhere to find her ticket back home.

Aldo paused before correcting her. "Unforgiving is perhaps better. While in his good graces, there are no quarrels, but outside them…"

"Understood," she said, relaxing a little. Maybe he would help her then.

"Don't be so sure, sweetheart," Grita warned her. "He may hold a grudge toward humans like you for what that young lady pulled on him those thousand years ago."

"Even more so since you resemble her so," Aldo said thoughtfully, eying Andie curiously.

"I just want to get out of here," Andie reasoned. "I'm not asking much. I just need help."

"How'd you get 'ere in the first place?"

"There was a glass peach in…my bedroom," Andie began, editing out the connection to her mother for now. "And when I picked it up, the leaf cut my finger and I fell. When I woke up, I was here. And it turned into this." She showed them the dagger. "Do you have any idea why that is?"

He peered at the dagger with a focused look on his face. "Well, it's goblin magic, I can tell that much, apart from that, I'm 'fraid not, dearie," Aldo said, sharing a bewildered glance with his wife.

Andie frowned, disappointed. "I see. Well, thank you for the food and tea… I suppose I should keep going."

"You're welcome to stay and get some rest awhile," Grita offered.

"Thank you, but I feel much better now that I've eaten. I can hopefully make a good amount of progress before I'm tired again," she insisted gently, thankful that they were being so hospitable.

"Well, at least pack up some sandwiches for your journey," Grita countered instead.

"Once again, thank you very much." Grita got her a handkerchief and Andie stacked the rest of the sandwiches at the worms' behest before tying it off, also taking a small canister of water with her before they'd allow her to leave. After more thank-you's, Andie stepped out of the crack and was once again her normal size and out in the pathway she'd moved from.

"Take care now!" she heard the small voice behind her and turned to see both Aldo and Grita peering out at her with smiles.

"You do the same. Goodbye," Andie replied fondly before beginning on her way again.

"Oi!" Andie stopped and turned. "If you come across Hoggle, he may be of help to you, too!"

"Great, thanks!" she called back, waving and walking on. "Sir Didymus and Hoggle. And perhaps the Goblin King… Well, at least that's a start."


	4. One of Us

Andie was munching on a sandwich from her pack when she happened upon the same small courtyard amidst the hedges as an hour prior and realized she had walked herself around in a circle. She whined a little and then swallowed the bite of food, thinking back to which direction she took last time. "What a miserable, frustrating place," she sighed as she went straight this time around. "I wish—" However, she left it that that, just shaking her head instead of finishing, not knowing what she'd wish for anyway, even if it did matter.

"Well?!" cried a high, grating voice above her, causing her to look up. At first she feared it was one of those chicken monsters again, but saw it was, in fact, a small, hideously ugly being that more fit the bill of a troll. _Or maybe a…_

"A goblin?" she wondered aloud.

"That doesn't make any sense!" it erupted in its impish way. "Don't you know how to make a proper wish?!"

"Should I?" Andie countered.

"Why _shouldn't_ you?" it demanded. "Didn't you learn a thing last time?!"

"Last time!" she scoffed. "I've never been here before in my life!"

"Didn't you come here to find that baby of yours?" it wondered, its bulging eyes alight with bewilderment.

"No," Andie said simply.

"Oh," it muttered. "Well, you must've wished for _something_ at some times or another!"

"Apparently, I haven't been doing it the _proper_ way," she murmured, growing annoyed as she quickened her already brisk pace to get away from the little pest.

"Well, go on then, try again!" it persisted.

"Why?!" she finally shouted, stopping and turning to where it was crawling across the top of the hedge.

"Because we haven't had a wish in thousands of years," it muttered reasonably. "We misses it."

"So, what, you can swindle people?!"

"Well… Yes."

Andie threw her hands up in the air and ranted, "Thousands of years, everyone keeps saying that, have you all been alive that long or are you all so fond of hyperbole that it's become a cultural norm?!"

"A what?" it muttered, baffled, before shrugging its wrinkly shoulders. "Time don't move anymore."

That gave Andie pause enough to calm the flare in her temper. "Wait, why not?"

The little creature shook its head. "Never you mind. Doesn't matter no more! Grab 'er!"

"What?" Andie demanded just as suddenly she felt hands grabbing at her legs and a weight launch onto her shoulders. "Hey!" While the goblin had apparently done its job of distracting her, its comrades had snuck up behind her and they were attempting to send her to the ground for better leverage.

"We'ven't turned no one for some time neither!" one goblin cackled maniacally.

"This one ain't no baby!" the one on her shoulders squealed disdainfully.

"Doesn't matter, just takes a bit longer!"

"Let go of me!" Andie growled, attempting to tear the goblin off her back, but nearly tripping instead as the goblins hurled themselves at the backs of her knees. While she fought with one hand, she tried to get the dagger out of her belt loop—where she'd temporarily stowed it to free up both hands to eat and have a sip of lukewarm tea—with the other, but the curvy blade was too secure and would not come out. She thought she was done for when suddenly the ranks began to change.

"Tally-ho!" came a cry from a short distance over. An explosive boom sounded and suddenly what appeared to be a cannonball with legs was hurtling through the air and collided with the goblin atop the hedge, both of them going over the other side in a fit of limbs. "Now, Ambrosius, charge! Not _that_ way!"

"We've got you surrounded!" came another gravelly goblin voice. Other cackles and cries of agreement rose up and then there were the distinct clangs of swords and more cannon fire as what sounded like a fight commenced. A deep, resonating roar rose up and the ground shook, boulders rolling past the end of the path Andie was on toward the commotion, surprised goblin shouts going up as a new clanging began to sound.

Taking that distraction to kick the goblins off her legs and hurl the one off her back, she caused them all to scramble from the commotion and leave her standing, roughed up, in the maze path alone. "What the hell is going on?" Andie murmured, hearing the noise build as she moved forward to try to investigate without getting in the middle of whatever was happening. She peeked around the corner and saw half a battalion of armored goblins equipped with cannons, spears, and swords being mauled by autonomously moving rocks, but that was all she could tell before having to jump back to avoid what appeared to be a sheepdog running past.

"Ambrosius! Stop this instant!" It was then she realized there was a rider atop the dog who looked like a little dog, himself, in a feathered hat and guardsman attire. Andie was so distracted by the dogs that she didn't notice the battle migrating closer as the goblins were forced back. "Must I bring food into this every time?! Halt at once!" The sheepdog apparently named Ambrosius skidded to a stop and whined before slowly turning around, panting pathetically. "Now!" the rider began again, but paused when he spotted Andie. "Oh… Is that _you_ , my lady?"

Andie started to reply when the cavalry opposing the goblins appeared: a stocky fellow with a bulbous nose that she could only classify as a dwarf, a lanky grey creature that resembled a tall version of one of the goblins, and what appeared to be a carved sandstone chimera with the body of a lion, the head of a woman, and arched wings upon its back. Her eyes widened on the group and suddenly the roar of earlier split the air again just inches from her on the other side of the wall and she shrieked, instinctively ducking away. That got the dwarf's attention and he looked at her, his large eyes widening. "Sarah?!"

A new storm of boulders came tumbling through, finally inspiring the goblins to flee the premise, all of them muttering in high-pitched tones as they retreated. Andie watched them go before looking toward the group who was now focused on her. It finally registered in her mind what the dwarf had called her. "No…," she murmured, shaking her head. "No, I'm not Sarah."

"You're her spitting image," the terrier astride the saddled sheepdog pointed out gently.

Andie nodded a little and—in hopes it would gain her some allies, as these creatures clearly were familiar with her mother—revealed for the first time since entering the Labyrinth, "Sarah is my mother. My name is Andie."

"Andie, eh? How did you get here?" the grey goblinish creature asked suspiciously.

She shot him a grumpy look. "It's a bit of a long story."

"Sarah's your mother?" the dwarf asked in awe. "How is she? Did she come with you?"

Andie regarded him thoughtfully. "She is and she's…fine. But no, she didn't come with me. I'm here quite by accident, to be honest with you. But… Who are _you_?"

"Oh, right, sorry… My name is Hoggle," the dwarf said amiably, still seeming to doubt somewhat that she wasn't who she said she was and was, in fact, Sarah playing a joke or something of the sort.

"And I am Sir Didymus, your ladyship! And of course, this is Ambrosius," the terrier said with a grand gesture to his furry steed.

"How lucky," Andie said with relief. "Aldo and Grita told me to find you both."

"They are still quite well? Wonderful!" Didymus exclaimed. "We lost contact with them quite some time ago."

"I," the greyish goblin began with a bit of a glare thrown toward Didymus, as if he were impertinent for speaking at that particular moment, "am Nyle. It is a pleasure… Andie. Is that a shortened name?"

Andie looked at Nyle warily—something about him just gave her the creeps, but she told herself it was only his looks—and replied, "Erm, yes. For Cassandra."

"Hm, I prefer that," he noted and she decided that he unnerved her so because he was less comically repulsive than the other goblins. There was a sharpness to his features and his eyes were yellow and cold as a snake's. Had he not those reptilian features in addition to the grey skin she'd discovered was signature to the goblins, he may have been handsome. Instead, he just seemed dangerous.

Andie though, impervious to this intimidating move, muttered, "Well, I prefer Andie."

He sneered and she was surprised a long thin tongue didn't flick between his teeth when he replied, "Fine then."

"Leona," the lion woman purred, smiling to reveal rows of sharp, pointed teeth.

It finally occurred to Andie what the chimera reminded her of. "Are you perchance a sphinx?"

Leona delicately raised her stone brow. "Why, yes. How ever did you know?"

"Stories from my world," Andie said. "I thought sphinxes guarded gateways though?"

"I did once," Leona said, nodding. "But ever since the Labyrinth fell, that duty became null and void. Anything can get anywhere now if said thing is only patient."

Andie nodded; in its own backward way, that did make sense. Her skimming gaze met Hoggle's and he seemed to be embarrassed by the eye contact. "Well, come on, we have a camp nearby," he grumbled, walking back the way they'd come. He tilted his head back shortly after heading over that way, "Well, it's about time you join us! You missed all the good stuff!" She had turned the corner before looking to where Hoggle was speaking and gasped at the beast before them, the definition of the modern day Bigfoot. Or a strangely enormous orangutan. Hoggle looked at Andie's expression and said, "Ah, right. This is Ludo. He's harmless."

Ludo looked down at her and his eyes grew wide. "SARAH?"

"No, Ludo. This is Andie."

"Andie…," Ludo tested out the name, pondering it before looking at her again. "Andie friend?"

Andie stumbled over her words, but managed to say in a voice breathy with shock, "Oh, um, yes. Friend."

The beast was appeased by that and gave a very toothy smile, which—in a strange way—comforted her. He seemed like a gentle giant and Andie was simply glad making one friend in this bunch was so easy. The rest seemed like they might be challenges, particularly because—unfairly—she wasn't her mother.

* * *

"So," Leona began after they'd all managed to settle in the campsite and get some provisions cooking over the small fire. "How did you say you arrived here?"

Andie looked at her, again marveling at her mythical appearance. She looked like she'd come straight off an Egyptian hieroglyph. "Accidentally," she replied, the dried meat being warmed making her mouth water as the smell began to waft into the air. She'd contributed the remainder of her sandwiches and tea to the party as a gesture of friendship, knowing allies outweighed her need for food at the moment and assuming she'd do best with bartering for them to start. "I took a crystal paperweight that looked like a peach—," Hoggle gasped and she paused in confusion before slowly continuing, "—from my mother's house and when I got it home, I cut my finger on it and, next I knew, I was here and getting chased down and nearly tricked by everything I came into contact with."

"Not the guardsmen of the doors?" Nyle asked dubiously. "You would have fallen into a trap had you gotten their riddle wrong."

"Oh, no, that was one of the easiest challenges," Andie said, shaking her head, which surprised the lot of them based on their expressions. "Those orange chickens were the worst."

"Orange whats?"

It hadn't occurred to Andie that chickens might not be known here. "Those large creatures with orange and pink feathers? Long snouts? Tossing their limbs every which way?"

" _Oh_ , you mean the Fireys. Bad luck running into them first thing," Hoggle noted, shaking his head with disapproval.

"Indeed," Leona murmured, equally exasperated at just the mere mention of the creatures.

"Then this peach crystal… Do you still have it?" Hoggle asked nervously.

"Technically, yes," Andie said as she took the dagger from her hip, wiggling it free of the loop, which had proved to be a bad storage idea during her confrontation with the goblins. "But when I got here and dropped it, it turned into this."

"May I?" Hoggle asked, his eyes lighting up at the sight of the shiny, glimmering blade.

"I wouldn't trust him with that," Nyle said with another one of his sneers. "He tends to keep treasures."

"Oh, quiet, I'm not insufferable," Hoggle snapped, appeased when Andie trusted him to hold the blade. He examined it and paled slightly. "Oh, yes… This is Jareth's work, as expected."

Andie arched a brow. "Jareth? The worms said it was goblin magic."

"It is. Jareth is their king," Hoggle told her. "I'm surprised Sarah never told you."

"She did, but as a story when I was little. It's been so long, I don't remember much of it now," Andie admitted.

"Well," Hoggle said as he handed her back the dagger and she noticed that he had a collection of trinkets on his person, among them what looked like a costume bracelet. She wondered if that had been her mom's. "I'm not sure how you got here or why, but you're not alone here. You're welcome to stay with us while you search for answers. And, should you need us…" He glanced at Didymus with a bit of a sad look in his eyes.

The terrier frowned slightly as well. "Yes. What Hoggle is trying to say, milady, is, should you need us, we will be here at your disposal. It is the least we can do for an old friend. And a new one, it seems."

Andie smiled and it was perhaps her most genuine one since arriving to this baffling place. "Thank you. Both of you." Ludo was quiet, as were Leona and Nyle, but she got the impression that they were all on the same page as well. Particularly Ludo, who was content to listen and beam happily at her from time to time. "My mom was lucky to have met such loyal friends while she was here."

"We were lucky to have met her, as well," Didymus said, nodding. "She is a special young lady. A special young lady, indeed!"

"I do believe the meat is done," Nyle droned lazily and Hoggle hastily took the dried meat, now slightly charred, off the iron plate they'd used to heat it, placing it in a bowl and sending it around the circle.

After all the food was parted out, everyone drifted to separate parts of the camp and Andie ate quietly toward the far side of the small courtyard, sitting with her back against the wall. She felt eyes on her soon enough and looked up to see if she was correct in feeling like she was being watched. Her eyes first landed on Nyle, who was openly studying her from the other side of the clearing and did not stop after being caught. She stared back at him boldly and, after a moment, he simply smirked and went back to eating. He was a strange one, but they were all friends, so Andie couldn't believe Hoggle and Didymus in particular would allow a traitor or cad in their elite little group. At least, not actively.

She soon found that Nyle was not the only one looking her way when she glanced right, finding Hoggle hesitating nearby and looking conflicted about approaching her. "Something wrong?" she asked, prompting him to respond.

"Oh, no, I just… May I?"

"Of course. I'm the outsider here, you can do as you please."

Hoggle shook his head as he sat down with her. "Not at all, I—I mean Sir Didymus is glad we all ran into each other." He coughed to cover up his nerves and Andie refrained from smiling at his attempt to appear less sensitive.

"So, you, Ludo, and Sir Didymus knew my mother, right?" she asked him before placing the last bite of a sandwich in her mouth.

"We certainly did. All ended up helping her along in her quest. She couldn't of done it without us," he said toughly. "Though, I was awful lonely before she showed up. Don't tell her I said that."

"I won't," Andie said, her smile coming through a little at that. "The others I've met think she brought the Labyrinth crashing down. That she beat, er, Jareth?"

"She did. She beat him at his own game, but none of us had a clue of what was at stake. It was worth it to her to get her brother back, but the entire Labyrinth seemed to crumble and shatter after she denied him."

"Denied him?"

"It became clear that he was convinced that he was in love with her," Hoggle said in a lowered tone.

"Just convinced? Not actually?"

"To me, yes. Just convinced. I can't imagine treating someone I loved like he treated her. Sending a cleaner after her and wiping her memory and doing everything in his power to make her fail… Even if he did need an heir to his goblin throne," Hoggle scoffed.

Andie nodded knowingly. "That makes a lot of sense. So Uncle Toby, er, her brother was supposed to be his heir?"

"I think any baby would have done, but yes, Sarah's brother was the one he took."

"How did that happen?"

"Well, she asked him to," Hoggle said as if it were obvious. "She wished for him to and it was like fate handed him the perfect situation. And goblins take wishes _very_ seriously. More seriously than anyone. The problem is that they're also manipulative and tend to love loosely worded wishes… And prideful, which was probably why he was so offended when she didn't want his gifts over her brother after wishing him away." He shook his head. "Goblins are the worst…"

"You're very insightful, Hoggle," Andie commented and she could've sworn the dwarf blushed.

"Oh, uh… Thank you," he said embarrassedly.

"You're welcome. I think I'm going to wander a little and scope out what's nearby. I still want to make it to the castle at the center of the Labyrinth, but for now I'm enjoying spending time here. Thanks again for letting me stay."

"Of course." Andie began to stand and paused when she heard, "Sarah, er, I mean, Andie? Sorry, you just look so much like her at a fast glance, it's habit."

"It's okay. I never thought we looked that much alike until I ended up here and everyone began mistaking me for her."

Hoggle waved her closer and she leaned in to hear what he had to say. "Be careful of who you tell about being Sarah's daughter, all right?"

"I have been up until I came across you all," Andie assured him easily.

"Good, but I mean it. Especially if you happen to run into Jareth." He shifted uncomfortably. "No one's seen him since the Labyrinth collapsed, but he might just be the most dangerous one to you in this world. It would do you well to keep what you can about yourself under wraps from now on."

"I understand, but I'm not my mother… Would he really fault me for something I didn't do?"

"Before Sarah showed up and changed everything for us all, no one expected him to do half of what he did," Hoggle admitted. "He was more or less a recluse—dangerous if crossed, but otherwise neutral and still biased toward the goblins—but his encounter with Sarah brought out sides of him I doubt even he anticipated. Something changed for the wilder in him and who knows who he is now. Or if he even _is_ at all anymore."

Andie nodded. "Just in case he _is_ … I'll be careful. Thank you." She paused. "Speaking of careful… Is Nyle…?"

"Strange. But he has proven to be a good ally," Hoggle said quietly.

"Is he a goblin?"

"He's half-transformed. Another baby stolen by Jareth before Sarah came along. He retains human size and features, but you can see the aspects of him that changed… His demeanor is split at times, too."

Andie nodded, feeling a new sense of pity for the half-goblin, half-man. "Right… Okay. I'll see you soon." She stood up and set her empty slab by the fire, heading toward the path that led off from the courtyard. She felt eyes on her again, but didn't turn this time to distinguish who it might be.

* * *

Andie swore as a bramble stabbed her wrist and she chose another less thorny patch of hedge to grip as she tried to haul herself up to the top and peer over for a better view. She'd not gone far, but wanted to get a plan in order before she set out for the castle, which she decided she'd do in a day or two. She was restless and wanted to get back home to her ailing mother and weary family. She was starting to realize, now that she had found a place of security in the Labyrinth and had met individuals she at least trusted not to pull off her head or turn her into a goblin, that what was really pulling her toward an end to all this was a sense of duty. She wasn't as desperate as before and she could only wonder why that was, as monstrous as this place could be.

After getting an idea of what direction she'd need to take, she shifted back down the hedge, noting a small crack in the path that she wasn't sure had been there before. "Hmph," she scoffed dismissively before landing just left of it, only to have the earth breath beneath her feet. She screamed and could feel the tunnel walls actually _grabbing_ at her, her eyes squeezed shut until she was very suddenly yanked to a stop in mid-fall.

She slowly opened her eyes, which shot wide when she saw what seemed to be a bunch of hands creating the shape of a face before her. "Can we lend you a _hand_?" it laughed, the fingers moving as a makeshift mouth in time with the disembodied voice.

"Wh-What are you?!"

"Why, we're helping hands, of course!" claimed another face, this one with different features, but still made of the same uniformly configured hands. "Now, where to?"

"Where to? What do you mean?" she stuttered.

"Up or down?"

"Um…," Andie murmured, looking down and then up and wondering where she'd come from. Both just looked like spots of light at the end of the tunnel and she'd tumbled end over end so many times, what if she'd gotten turned around? Could she trust physics here? What if she chose wrong? "Which direction did I fall from?"

"Shouldn't you know that?!"

"Do we look like we have eyes, girl?"

"Up or down?!"

"Um… Up?" she squeaked.

They laughed. "She said up!"

"Your up or our up?"

"…What's the difference?"

"Everything!" they said together and just started handing her end over end until she hadn't a clue of which direction they were "helping" her toward until they had her dangling by one foot, promptly letting go so she landed on her face.

She spit out a piece of dirt and looked around, finding herself standing in a dim spot of light in utter darkness with nothing beneath her but more dirt. "You bastards! Get back here!" she shouted up at the tunnel, the opening no more than a speck of light now. "Hoggle! Ludo! Didymus, _help_!" she cried up into the tunnel, but she knew it was no use. Those stupid hands were still laughing at her in their strange, ghostly way.

"Well, well," said a voice in the darkness, "aren't you a sight for sore eyes."


	5. Everything I've Done

"Do be quiet, they won't hear you," said the voice wearily nearby as Andie shouted again, having scrambled back out of the light when he'd first spoken, her eyes still searching the gloomy subterranean perimeter for the owner. "Even so, this is an oubliette. Do you know what that is?"

Andie faltered. "A… It's a trap, isn't it?"

"Indeed. For those to be forgotten."

"Who are you?"

She was finally able to make out a dark form sitting opposite where she stood, but no details came into focus for the lack of light. It was the most human figure she'd seen here yet, even more so than the half-human Nyle. "I think a better question is who _you_ are," the male voice countered as he stood, making his way over to her side of the cave. "You don't seem to be who I first thought. And how have you come to my labyrinth to fall down a hole?"

Her eyes widened incrementally. "Your labyrinth—wait… You're the Goblin King, aren't you?"

A soft chuckle danced around the space just as a boot crossed the rim of the light shining down from the opening she'd made high above them. Into view stepped one of the most eccentric looking men she'd ever seen and, even with the oddities in his appearance ranging from his somewhat spiky blond hair and some smudges of what appeared to be eyeliner around his eyes, he could have easily passed for human. Had she not known the truth, anyway. His teeth glittered faintly as he sent a weary, yet Cheshire smile her way. "Now, that is something I've not heard someone call me in quite some time."

"What are you doing down here?"

"All questions I could easily be asking you," he pointed out, eying her closely. She wondered if he was somehow able to see better than she was down here. Then again, who knew how long he'd been down here. Now that she thought about it, his hair looked slightly matted in places, his clothes a bit rumpled, and he appeared particularly thin, though she had no memory of him to compare his present self to. Perhaps that was just the way he looked.

"Well, then maybe—," Andie began, only to pause when she heard a faint echo of her name down the tunnel. She brushed past him to peer up toward the light, where she could now see a pin-sized head peeping over. "I'm down here!" she shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth to project her voice more efficiently.

"Stay there! I'm coming down to get you!" Hoggle shouted and he disappeared from over the opening.

"Yeah, where else am I going to go…," she muttered softly, smoothing a hand through her hair before regarding Jareth again. He was watching her with an amused sort of air and the scrutiny in his eyes unnerved her. "What I was saying is maybe we should both be answering these obvious questions. Since we'll probably be stuck here awhile."

He scoffed a bit. "You've no idea what 'awhile' is, girl."

"I take it you didn't just get here, too," she noted with a grimace.

"Oh, no," he murmured with a slight shake of his head. "No, I've lost track of the years."

Andie's eyes widened. "Years? How are you still alive?"

"Time has stopped in this world. With it, so has the aging process for every creature in attendance," he explained calmly before sitting down on the floor again. "Even you."

"So, you just…"

"Starved without emaciating, withered without withering, oh… Yes. And it was more excruciating than actually dying such a pathetic death." He looked at her wearily. "Sit. You're tiring me further by standing like that."

"Well, excuse me," she grumbled, but sat down nearby. "Why couldn't you just magic yourself out? I'm sure the king of the goblins has some kind of magical ability, right? Or am I relying too heavily on fairytales?"

Jareth chuckled, but the sound was weak. He seemed disgusted by it. "I had that ability, long ago. But that's left me, too, it seems. I'm sure the lack of time progression has something to do with that."

"Why would that have any influence?" Andie asked dubiously.

He seemed worn out by her questions already, though she figured he was probably just worn out, period. "Because have you ever had something remotely in the realm of 'magical' happen while you're standing still? Isn't it always after moving forward?"

"You're getting a bit to existentialist on me, Jareth," she commented.

"Now, is it fair that you know my name yet I do not know yours?"

"I guess not. It's Andie."

"Andie, hm? I've never heard such a name. Short for…?"

"Cassandra."

"Interesting," Jareth murmured, though his bored tone disagreed with that sentiment. "So, Andie, what were your other questions? My memory is slacking with my current state of health, as I'm sure you understand."

She was somewhat suspicious of his manners; Hoggle had made it sound like he was a wild, aggressive thing, but it looked like he could barely move. She half expected him to turn on her at any moment, at least until she figured she might just be his ticket out of here. He was perhaps simply lucky she'd dropped in, pun intended. "How'd you end up down here?"

"I lost my magic directly after the Labyrinth, itself, fell to pieces," he said uncomfortably and she could only wonder why he was telling her this. "Those I presided over grew more rampant and restless and some attempted a mutiny once they felt the scales begin to tilt. I thought it wise to disappear awhile."

"You _meant_ to get trapped down here?"

"Of course not. I took the plunge down here while attempting to disappear, of course," he said irritably before sighing and glancing at the tunnel over them. "Succeeded too thoroughly, I suppose."

"Why are you telling me this?" Andie finally asked. "About your magic being gone and your blunders, why would you give me that information when we've only just met?"

Jareth looked at her pensively before replying, "I need your help. And you must know that it is quite humiliating for me to say that. It is also a leap to trust you with that explanation, as—you're right—I've known you but a few moments in a timeless world. However, I would hope for both our sakes that this is not a mistake."

"What do you need my help for?"

"Well, first for getting out of here, which you've already managed to do just by being here. Also for finding a way to return the Labyrinth to its original form. I need time to move again so I can regain my power and my control over this unpredictable place."

"I'm supposed to help you with that?"

"You seem moderately intelligent," he said with a lift of his shoulders that made Andie want to pummel him. "And you seem to have already won allies. I will need such connections and this time, they cannot stem only from fear." Jareth's intense gaze moved over to meet hers again as he said his next words. "I will also need for you to keep my lack of magic to yourself. Under no circumstances can I afford this information to be divulged. Do you understand?"

Andie met his gaze levelly before looking at her hands and saying seriously, "You know, it's unwise to go on first impressions of people."

"I do not have much choice at this moment. I need someone on my side."

"And what makes you think I'm on your side?"

"Well," he murmured, beginning to become irked but containing it. "You are not _not_ on my side…"

"That is terrible logic," Andie told him with disapproval. "Awful. You're lucky you've not been killed on that thinking."

"Indeed, but it is true," he groused. "Look, I'm putting a good amount of faith in you, recognize that this does not come lightly—"

"Or with permission."

" _Andie_ ," he grumbled.

"All right, all right," Andie muttered. "But make more informed decisions in the future. I may not spill your secret, but I'm not planning on risking my neck to save your skin either. And don't act like you know me, like we're friends. You don't know anything about me."

"And the same applies in reverse," Jareth pointed out. "At least I'm willing."

"Because you want something from me."

"There is no point in denying it, as I've already made that clear. Yes. I want your help."

"Earn it," Andie snipped just as a hidden door nearby swung open and Hoggle entered the oubliette.

"I knew I shoulda gone with ya, are you—" He paled when his eyes found Jareth. "It's _you_!"

"In the flesh," Jareth said flippantly, shooting a glanced toward Andie as he stood. "Having a chat with your new friend. Say…" He paused and looked at her considerately. "How did you come to be in my Labyrinth anyway?"

"I picked up a glass peach, it cut my hand, and then—boom—I was here."

Interest sparked in his eyes and she began to ponder what Hoggle had warned her about earlier. "And how did you manage to come across such a trinket?" he asked softly.

She started to answer and, after catching Hoggle's eye, who was practically begging her silently not to tell the truth, she said instead, "I found it. In a thrift store."

Jareth's eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn't press the subject. "Curious."

"Indeed," she murmured, not breaking his gaze. He watched her a moment longer before nodding and walking toward the door, ducking low to make his way into the tunnel beyond. She looked down at Hoggle. "Thank you for coming down here."

"Of course, though I might've done things differently had I known _he_ was down here, too," he murmured, casting a sideways glance through the doorway. "Go on."

Andie stepped through the doorway and then straightened up, hearing Hoggle walk out and shut the door behind them. They then began to walk down the tunnel, Hoggle stepping ahead to lead the way. There was something rigid in Jareth's frame that reminded Andie of a caged animal wary of recapture, so she kept her distance. However, the young woman nearly leapt out of her skin when a booming voice shattered the silence only permeated by their footsteps. "TURN BACK."

"YOU'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY," boomed another up where Hoggle was walking.

"Oh, shut it," Hoggle grumbled, ignoring the enormous stone heads. "Don't mind them, they're just False Alarms."

"NO, THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING."

"Now, that's just rude, trying to steer people off course," she accused the last one to shout.

"It's… It's my job, Miss," it said awkwardly, glancing away from her. When it didn't shout again, she cut it some slack, moving along to catch up with Hoggle and Jareth, who had slowed to wait. Jareth still had an air of amusement about him, but said nothing.

After following Hoggle through the winding tunnels of the Underground, they reached the end and crawled out through a small burrow, camouflaged beneath a line of brush. Hoggle turned around to help Andie out and grimaced when Jareth stepped out as well. He leaned toward Andie and whispered, "What's he still doing here?"

She shrugged. "Feels like tagging along, I guess."

"Not fond of my company, Hogarth? I'm offended," Jareth commented patronizingly.

"It's _Hoggle_! I see at least one thing hasn't changed in this place!" he grumped as he began to lead the way back to the campsite.

Walking ahead to mutter about things Andie only heard bits and pieces of, she walked at her own pace, finding that she'd scraped her cheek a bit when she'd fallen in the oubliette. "Stupid hands," she sighed as she ran her fingertips over the uneven edge of the scrape and winced when it stung.

Ludo was pacing around the camp when they got back, visibly relieved when he saw that they'd come back. Andie couldn't be sure whether he just didn't notice Jareth or didn't have an opinion of him since he didn't react to the addition to their party, but Jareth certainly didn't seem to care for the bumbling giant. Didymus, Leona, and Nyle all had their reactions, however.

"Oh, goodness me, are you all right?!" Didymus fussed as he hurried over to them, his jaw dropping when he saw Jareth. "And where on earth did _he_ come from?"

"Everyone is so shocked to see me, where did you all think I went?" Jareth muttered with a roll of his dual-colored eyes, which soon fell upon the half-goblin nearby. "Nyle. An interesting surprise."

Nyle inclined his head, but the venom in his voice was plain. "Your highness."

"Indeed," Jareth agreed flippantly, which only seemed to piss Nyle off more. Andie made a mental note to ask him about the Goblin King a little later on, expecting a nicely candid answer from someone with such a sour opinion and not afraid to express it. "And…?"

"Leona," the sphinx said calmly, though her eyes were narrowed with some contempt.

"Ah, yes… You've left your post."

She snorted softly through her stone nose and Andie wondered suddenly if she was only stone on the outside or if some kind of magic made her stone body malleable. She couldn't really say why she kept wondering about these things when none of it made sense, but her brain hadn't stopped trying to categorize and decipher the oddities yet. "So have you."

"The entirety of the Labyrinth is my post, I recall assigning you to the clocktower."

"It was the side entrance to the castle and this place is already so disorderly, it hardly matters."

Jareth arched a brow her way. "You would speak so to your king?"

"I am fashioned to fear nothing and, as such, I have nothing to fear," she said dismissively. "This is what makes my guardianship so absolute."

"Hm," he murmured before shrugging it off. "Fair enough." He appeared to be a mixture of equal parts miffed and impressed. "Say, where might your… A-ha!" He'd sighted the provisions, but Hoggle began to make a beeline toward the stash. "Excuse me, dwarf, you think this wise?"

Hoggle paused and seemed conflicted in what to do next, but ended up slowly stepping away, muttering about being a coward. It was no wonder he wanted everyone to still think he had his magic, Andie noted. _He's an absolute bully._ She watched Jareth step over and pour himself a cup of tea from leaves Didymus had contributed, which had tasted strangely like cold medicine to Andie, and help himself to the leftover food. Didymus looked to Andie after a moment of quiet had passed in which everyone had cast judgy, aggravated glances toward Jareth and said, "I was thinking, perhaps the Wiseman would have some, well, wisdom for you on how you might return home."

"The Wiseman?" she repeated curiously.

"Exactly as he sounds, milady. Quite wise. And it couldn't hurt to ask, could it?"

"Not at all, thank you for saying something," Andie said with a smile before heading over to sit near the wall, where she'd taken lunch earlier. A patch of dark sky had wandered near and had begun to take over the area of the courtyard and for about a square mile all around. Her fatigue hit her all at once and Andie slouched just enough to gain a stable position and before she knew it, her eyes had shut and she was out like a light.

Jareth was making a point of eating slowly, despite his stomach feeling as if it would gnarl and swallow the rest of his insides at the first sign of nutrients in centuries. The curse of living agelessly while his body's needs and soul's unrest rotted him in a cell was disturbingly potent, as he'd previously had doubts that anything in this world could faze him any longer. It was all he could do not to cringe every time he swallowed another bit of dried meat or sandwich, it didn't matter what he ate or drank from the provisions by the fire, it all felt like lead in his stomach. He could feel eyes on him though, and knew now wasn't the time to show even mild discomfort.

Darkness closed in around them and painted the visible overhead with spiraling stars and an endless depth of black. Jareth listened to the other creatures around the campsite shift and settle into place for the "night," though the cycle of light had been disrupted with the rest of the reality around them. Once he heard stillness fall back over the courtyard, he looked up, surveying the faces decorated by shadows and the flicker of the fire. Jareth glanced away from Ludo and Didymus across the clearing with disinterest, his gaze settling on the dark-haired girl to his right. He stared at her for a long moment before scoffing softly to himself and looking back down to his tea, which he sipped deeply and then nearly choked on, before going off to rest for the night as well, though the last thing he felt the need for was sleep after spending so long in the dark of the earth and his own mind.

 _It was only forever_ , he thought to himself with a dismal tinge of melancholy disguising itself as irony and humor. His lips curved without the expression touching his eyes. _Not long at all._


	6. Falling Down

A hot burst of air on her face served as her morning wakeup call and Andie was a bit displeased to note that it reeked of beef jerky. Pulling a face and opening her eyes, she found Ludo looking at her with his face just inches away, first with concern and then with delight when he discovered she was awake. "Andie?"

"Yup, still Andie," she mumbled as she reached up and rubbed her eyes. "What's the matter?"

"Breakfast," Ludo said pleasantly in his loud, gravelly voice and she noticed he was holding a small plate of rations that looked dollhouse-sized in his enormous hands.

"Oh," Andie said, feeling a bit guilty about her slightly snarky awakening as she took the plate. "Thank you, Ludo."

He smiled in his peculiar way and nodded his head once before going back to where Hoggle sat, who grumped boisterously when Ludo accidentally knocked him over. Andie picked one of the small hanks of meat off the plate and bit into it, twisting it to tear it between her teeth and trying not to wince at the dry, gamy texture. "Where did you guys get this stuff?" she asked, leaving it open for anyone to answer.

Nyle, sitting near the fire pit, was the one to reply. "I got it from the castle after the collapse. Figured I should take something before I left. Most of the provisions in the cellar were left untouched."

"Have you guys been living on this?"

"Somewhat," he acknowledged. "On and off. There have been other finds along the way and, with time stopped the way it has, we may not even need to eat, but better safe than, well, dead. You stop tasting after a while, I promise."

"That's pretty dismal," Andie commented as she chewed another bite, glancing around the clearing. "Where's Sir Didymus? And Jareth?"

"Didymus is scouting the area for any sense of direction in this place so we can start looking for the Wiseman, I believe," Nyle said, a snarl curling his lip with his next words. "Jareth is who knows where."

"Lurking, apparently," Leona said quietly as Jareth stepped around the corner of a turn in the maze, reentering the courtyard. "Do you enjoy that? Popping out all dramatically when you are being talked about?"

Jareth looked a bit bemused. "Yes," he replied obviously, "but I did not think that was dramatic… My name was spoken and I answered."

"My intention wasn't to summon you by using—," Nyle began and Andie noticed for the first time that his teeth were pointed, which made the fine hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

"I was not talking about you," Jareth said dismissively, his eyes fixed on the girl across the way.

Andie met his gaze and arched a brow. "I wasn't, er, summoning you either."

Jareth's barely concealed smirk chose that moment to curve his thin lips. "Pity." Andie heard Hoggle groan a little at the exchange, shaking his head in her peripheral. Her eyes moved back to Nyle as he stood, long thin limbs unfolding like a puzzle before he trudged away, a shadow making its way unaltered in the sunlight of the current sky. Jareth watched him go as well, lithely closing the distance across the courtyard before he was next to Andie, slowly lowering himself to sit next to her. "I like him even less than I used to."

"This might surprise you," Andie said as she swallowed her last bite of food and chased it with some of the awful leafy tea that they kept brewing, "but you're not his favorite person either."

Jareth sneered. "I'm truly shocked," he bantered back.

"I knew you would be." Andie finished her leaf water—to call it tea any longer was an insult to tea—and asked, "Any idea what you did to make him dislike you that much?"

"What makes you think I did anything?" After a heavy dose of side-eye, Jareth relented. "Perhaps."

"Care to share that information?"

"He was once to be my successor. Then my jester. And then a servant."

"Harsh," she murmured.

Jareth shrugged. "He was soon deemed no longer fit to ascend."

"By who?"

"Well, by me, of course."

"Hmph," she murmured as she stretched carefully and set her plate aside. "Is that why you steal babies?" At his inquisitive look, she added, "I've been told multiple times since coming here that a girl came through, looking for her brother."

He appeared amused by that. "Indeed."

"Was he one of the ones you stole?"

"Let's make one thing clear," he said, holding up a leather-gloved finger between them, "I do not _steal_ children. Much like the brother of the girl you've heard of, they are wished away by careless siblings or they are left to dwell in orphanages and with unrelated families who treat them like garbage. They wish for escape and I have given it to them time and time again."

"But you didn't give the girl's brother back to her when she began her quest to get him back, so…"

"She wished him away," he argued, beginning to grow visibly annoyed.

"And then took it back," Andie persisted. "Where's the humanity in holding a girl to a wish that large?"

"You seem to be under the impression that I should have some form of humanity in me," he noted with a slightly calmer demeanor. "I am a goblin, little girl, a goblin _king_ — _the_ Goblin King—and am not held to your petty standards."

"There's nothing petty about being a fair leader," Andie countered. "Besides, you said yourself you were selecting human children as potential heirs. Weren't you chosen in the same way?"

His eyes narrowed slightly and he admitted, "I cannot say I remember."

Andie's lips pursed a bit before forming the word, "Pity."

Just then, Didymus rode into the clearing atop Ambrosius—the sight of which still made Andie hard pressed not to snort with laughter—and skidded to a halt that nearly threw the uniformed terrier from his steed. "There is no sure way to understand the direction of the Labyrinth any longer, but based on the areas nearby, I have an idea of where we must go in order to find the Wiseman and ask him what is needed," he reported before adding, "and, truly, simply sitting here will do us no good. 'Tis time to carry on!"

Andie nodded and stood. "Sounds good, any idea where we're headed first?"

"There is familiar ground down the right passageway after a few turns. I have marked the path we must take to get there again," he replied as the others packed up the campsite. Nyle had returned at some point within the last minute or so, slipping in like a puff of smoke. Sudden, yet soundless.

After what little they had was packed back into a knapsack Hoggle hauled along, the group followed Didymus down the right passageway, walking along behind him until he suddenly pulled Ambrosius to a stop, nearly causing Andie to trip over them both. "Why did you stop?"

"My…" He looked back at her with distress. "My markings are gone!"

"Gone?" she repeated, glancing around. "How can that be?"

"Likely the smaller goblins who do stone maintenance," Jareth admitted, looking disgruntled at the situation. "They rotate the stones whenever there is an impurity or repair to make."

" 'Tis no matter! I believe between the two of us, we will remember the way! Ambrosius, onward!" Didymus sent the sheepdog forward again and the group behind them followed, not quite knowing what else to do when no one had any better ideas. Didymus stopped at the end of a pathway, pausing heavily before noting, "This was not here before…"

Andie peered around the others to get a good look at the end of the path, at first wondering if they'd run back into the guards she'd faced earlier when she saw the doors. However, these were different; smaller and unguarded, with large detailed door knockers cast in bronze. When they all arrived, Andie continued studying the doors, at least until one of them yelled at her.

"It's _rude_ to _stare_!" the pudgy one on the right shouted, making Andie jump.

"Excuse me?" she demanded.

"All you little girls that come through here are the same," it yammered on while the other one—whose mouth was occupied by the ring portion of the door knocker—mumbled unintelligibly. "Staring at us like we don't know you're there— _oh,_ the mannerlessness of it all!—and then supposing that _we_ are the rude ones?!"

"That's probably not a word. Could you maybe calm down, I was—"

"WHAT?"

The right door knocker was mumbling again, more voraciously than before, so Andie pulled the ring out of its mouth. "You were saying?"

"Thank you!" the door knocker said exuberantly before explaining most amiably now that she'd helped him, "He can't hear to save his life."

"What life? I'm a door knocker, you twit!" the left demanded irritably. "Not like you offer much in the realm of conversation!"

"It's by design, not choice, I'm a—"

"Could one of you tell me," Andie asserted loudly, causing them both to stop their bickering for the moment, "which way to go? We're trying to find the Wiseman." She glanced over at Didymus for confirmation that she'd said that correctly and, at his nod, she looked back at the door knockers. "Would anyone have come through here?"

"No one's come through," the left one grumped before adding, "though we don't know what's on the other side either. That's up to you."

Andie nodded. "That does make sense… Okay," she said before turning around to discuss the choice, though she only managed to turn right around into Jareth. "Could you stand any closer?" she grumbled as she stepped back.

"Is that a request or an admonishment?"

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that," Andie informed him as he cackled quietly. "Anyway, which way? Has anyone been through here before?"

As there was a collective shaking of heads from everyone apart from Ludo, Andie focused on him. "Which way did you go before, Ludo?"

"OH, I remember you, you big slobbery bum!" the right door knocker crowed once he looked toward Ludo, who appeared to have hurt feelings now. "He came through this way before, but not before salivating all over that ring, which that _girl_ then stuck back in my mouth after _nearly suffocating me_!"

 _Go, Mom_ , Andie thought with a small snicker, then more seriously asked, "Did you go that way before?" Ludo nodded timidly. "What was that way?"

"Forest," Ludo said simply. "Ludo fell doooown."

Andie pursed her lips. "Ah."

"The forest? That's where the Fireys are," Hoggle said with a grimace.

"Hm, then I doubt that's still what's behind the door. I already ran into them toward the beginning of the maze," Andie reasoned, tapping the knocking ring on her palm while she thought. "Any input, O Lord of the Maze?"

"I could get used to that," Jareth remarked before becoming more serious. "I am at as much of a loss as you, with the Labyrinth in its disarray. You'll just have to guess."

It was her turn to grimace. "Why do I have to guess?"

"Because I should like it if our potential failure is your fault," he mocked unhelpfully.

"You know, for wanting my help, you sure—"

"Fine, fine," Jareth snapped, cutting her off so she didn't spoil his plans to keep his conundrum a secret. "You whine worse than Sarah, even."

"I don't whine," Andie growled, avoiding any comments that might divulge her relation. Hoggle had told her explicitly that revealing her lineage would jeopardize her safety here and—with the deal she'd struck with Jareth, at least that of his owing her a favor for all this—she didn't feel like bringing all that old drama to light. Andie took a deep breath and looked between the doors before deciding on the left. "Here," she said to the right, holding the ring back toward him. He pursed his bronze lips tightly and earned a glare from the girl before him. "Really? We can do this the hard way, history can repeat itself." The door knocker looked at Ludo before sighing and opening his mouth, letting Andie place the ring back inside.

Turning to the left door, she looked for a handle before deciding she had to use the knocker, taking the ring and tapping three times on the door, which swung open slowly to reveal a lush setting. "Look at this place," she murmured in wonder as she stepped through, finding herself surrounded by towering blooms, vines creeping up the walls on either side of them as the Labyrinth continued.

"Careful," Jareth said quickly, grabbing the back of her shirt and yanking her backward.

"What are you—?" she started to ask peevishly until he nodded toward the ground in front of them and she saw the unforgivingly dark void she'd nearly stepped into. "Oh…"

"Watch where you step," he said softly into her ear, making her squirm out of his grasp. This time she avoided the patch and paid more mind to the ground, hoping her face didn't look as hot as it felt. "Funny, I remember making sure there was something peculiar about every location…"

Andie started to turn around to hurl an insult, but she paused when she saw one plant rearing back, looking very much like a Venus flytrap. "Look out!" she shouted just as the thing uncoiled and struck, Jareth and Hoggle dodging away just in time as it collided with the ground behind them. Andie looked past her travel companions to find that the door had swung shut, so their only choice now was to keep running.

She stood her ground as Hoggle ran past her, followed by the others, making sure everyone was making it through okay and avoiding the apparently carnivorous plants now after them. When Nyle passed her, his shoulder accidentally caught hers and she toppled backward onto the ground, looking up to see one of the plants coiling back, its eyeless face aimed toward her. However, she felt hands wrap around her arms and suddenly she was dragged backward, the plant striking and missing her by inches.

"You fool, what are you thinking?!" Jareth demanded as he tugged her to her feet, giving up and scooping her off the ground before he ran through the passage to catch up with the others, dodging any plants that came their way, though now it seemed that the entire path was out to get them. The vines wrapping around the walls and over the floors were alive, spearing toward their ankles and lashing off the stone toward them as they passed. As a vine sliced open Jareth's cheek, he winced and muttered, "What was I thinking with this place…"

"What were you thinking with any of this?" Andie wondered aloud, shrieking as a vine hit her in the face and reopened her split lip. "Dammit!"

When Jareth looked down at her to see what was wrong, the real commotion started up ahead and all they heard was Nyle shout, "No, you brute!" just ahead of them before the entire pathway slanted downward and they were caught off their feet, sliding down into the dark underground beyond. Jareth cursed and gripped Andie tightly as they all fell into the blackness, hitting more stone—icy compared to the rest—after they'd run out of pathway to fall on. Once they were off, the pathway replaced itself above them and they were sealed in tight.

Groans and swears echoed through the dank chamber, everyone blind for the lack of light. "Are you all right?" Andie heard Jareth ask near the top of her head.

She nodded, then remembering none of them could see, said, "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks," acknowledging that he'd taken the brunt of the fall. "Are you?"

"I believe so," Jareth murmured, his grip on her still tight. Once he realized this, he loosened it, though they both stayed where they were for the moment. "Where are we?"

"You don't know?" Andie asked apprehensively. "That's not comforting."

"I…," she heard Nyle say hesitantly. "I think I do…"

"Hold on, let's shed some light on this! Hoggle, where's that firestarter…," Didymus said and there was some bustling sounds, then the clink of Hoggle's rucksack of supplies. "Ah! There it is!"

"Wait," Nyle said urgently, " _don't_!"

However, Didymus sparked the starter and lit up the space just long enough for Andie to make out a large reptilian eye, the pupil elongating from the flash. Her heart felt as if it would seize. "Oh, my god."


	7. Through Dangers Untold

Andie was scarcely able to breathe, much less process what she'd just seen in the flash of sparks Didymus had issued from the firestarter. Panicked murmurs worked their way through the group and she heard movements begin as someone took to their feet.

"Now we've done it," Hoggle fretted and Andie heard the taps of his smallish feet beating on the stone floor as he searched for an exit. "I've gotta get out of here!"

"We _all_ have to get out of here!" Didymus declared. "Be brave, Sir Hoggle, this is a feat for all fellows!"

"Brave? Ha! I've told you all before I'm in no position for bravery. I'm a coward and I'm fine with it!"

"Would you all kindly close your mouths?" a low voice rumbled from the cavern, silencing the lot of them. "I was having one most pleasant dream…"

"The one of the poppiessss again?"

"No."

Andie turned her head incrementally as the rumbling timbres spoke to one another in the darkness and whispered, "What are they? Dragons?"

"Dragons?" Jareth repeated dubiously. "Heavens, no. Snakes."

"Oh, because that's _so_ much better."

"No fire," he pointed out.

"LUDO SCARED."

"They do not lisssssten well, do they?" one of the snakes hissed grumpily.

"How could they, their ears are so sssssmall," another said with startling proximity to Andie's ear and she had to swallow a shriek when she felt the tip of its tongue graze her shoulder. A small yelp worked its way up her throat in its place, but Jareth clapped a hand over her mouth and silently shifted away, blindly maneuvering them further into the cavern and dropping his hand when he decided she would be quiet again.

"Can you see?" Andie whispered, grimacing as her eyes failed to adjust to the lack of light.

"Can _you_?" Jareth countered as an answer. "Quiet."

Andie bristled at being told what to do, but she did the smart thing for the moment and kept her mouth shut, even as she felt a scaly side brush her leg. Another pattering of running, ungainly footsteps issued from high up, across the cavern, and suddenly a shaft of light spilled in, illuminating the dark around the dwarf's silhouette. "He's just going to leave us?" she murmured in disbelief, though she did wonder what had made her trust the lot of them so quickly. Maybe because she hadn't had a choice. Regardless of the reason, she felt rather stupid now.

"Hoggle, don't you dare!" Nyle shouted near them as he loped over an enormous, scale-riddled tail to get to the stairway that Hoggle had utilized to leave them all to their fates. Now that the light had infiltrated the chamber, Andie saw exactly what they were dealing with. What was impossible to tell at the moment was how many serpents riddled the floor and she could only assume that there were either a good number of them or that they were all as long as they were unrealistically huge. And now they were awake and writhing around each other in a great mass of scales and muscle.

"I said I'm a coward, what did you expect?!"

"Should we eat them?" one of the snakes wondered as its head rose and regarded them irritatedly from the other side of the chamber. "They cannot be ssssssstill… And I am rather starved…"

"A good idea," one of them hissed and the chamber erupted in movement as the snakes began to slither back and converge on the group and the remaining members of their traveling party made a break for the only exit they saw. Didymus got back on Ambrosius and began urging him forward, even while the sheepdog hesitated and cowered just shy of one serpent's tail as it moved past. Nyle had made it to the stairway and was halfway up, though he was looking at them and watching to see if they made it.

 _Some help they are_ , Andie thought as she pushed herself to her feet, Jareth doing the same. Leona was working her way across slowly but surely, glancing back to see where the others were at and hesitating in moving too far away when they might need her help. At the moment, however, she was operating more on guilt than genuine selflessness, as the sphinx was unadmittedly hard pressed not to get herself out of there. Conflicted, Leona shouted, "Hurry up!"

"We are in the process of doing just so!" Didymus called back, still desperately trying to get Ambrosius to move forward from his terrified position. This spurred Leona into going back and she leapt over the end of a snake, her sandstone wings extending just enough for her to glide smoothly down to them.

Andie was moving to help them, but Jareth nearly clotheslined her when he extended his arm. "She's got it, start moving," he ordered her. Andie started to argue, but her right ankle was suddenly secured by one serpent's tail and she was yanked off her feet and dragged across the stone, her shout cut short when she hit the ground and had the breath knocked out of her.

She grabbed for any unevenness in the stone floor to latch onto, even knowing that an animal built up with that much strength from being entirely composed of muscle and bone would still outmatch her. Her eyes caught a shimmer in her peripheral and she looked down to see the dagger, still secured to her hip, and scrambled to get a hold of it. She worked it free just as she was pulled off the ground, her grip white-knuckled as she fought for her only asset, and suddenly she was at eye-level with the beast that had her.

She hung upside-down from its hold on her leg, flailing a little for some point of control when she had none. It surveyed her before muttering, "Bottoms up!" to which its comrades laughed mirthfully as it swung her closer and began to part its jaws. Andie saw her only chance and threw her weight forward as much as she could before plunging the dagger into the golden eye of the enormous reptile. It screeched with pain and she felt its tail slacken around her ankle, and in the next instant she was free-falling, headfirst, toward the stones. In the last second, Leona swooped under her and, while connecting with the stone sphinx's back hurt, it was better than the floor before an angry snake.

"Ow," Andie moaned faintly as she righted herself to better balance herself and her savior. "Thank you."

"You okay?" Leona asked as she dodged around a swerving tail and just barely missed one large, lunging set of fangs. "Never mind, answer that later. Just hang on."

"That, I can do," Andie said, moving her arms around Leona's neck and securing herself as the sphinx swept her wings downward and made them airborne; however, the stone creature could only soar so far and now their aggressors were angry and blocking the crumbling stairway. "What do we do?"

As Leona searched for another way, Didymus called from the top of the stairs—where Leona had left him with Ambrosius after it became clear that they needed transporting—to Ludo still below and working his way across as well, "Ludo, my brother! Call upon your fellows!"

"WHAT?" Ludo roared over the noise in the chamber.

"THE ROCKS, MY FRIEND! THE ROCKS!" Didymus yelled back, surprisingly loud for his size.

"Oh!" Ludo exclaimed in realization before tilting his head back and giving the strangest bellowing sound Andie had ever heard, though she vaguely remembered such a sound from her first encounter with them while they were all fighting off the goblins. Suddenly, the chamber shook and the ramp that had collapsed and sent them down there in the first place slammed down, boulders rolling end over end into the fray before it shut again. Above, stones in the ceiling worked themselves free and came down on the bewildered snakes' heads, providing more than enough of a distraction for Leona to make her way to the stairs, Ludo close behind now.

Andie jolted a little as Leona leapt up the staircase, only loosening her grip a bit when they reached the top and hurried toward the exit. Only Didymus had waited for them inside while the others—Ambrosius included—had hightailed it out of there. Andie slid off the sphinx and thanked her again as they crossed through into the light, though Leona looked at her a bit apprehensively. "Should you be walking?"

"I'll rest when we're out. You've done enough," Andie persisted as she squinted into the daylight, letting her eyes adjust before she got a good look around. When they were all out, Ludo shut the door Hoggle had found and breathed a loud sigh of relief. "Thank you, too, Ludo. That was amazing." The great beast perked up a bit at that, a toothy smile decorating his primate-like face. She looked to make sure Didymus was okay and then walked on, not sending a glance toward Nyle, Jareth, or Hoggle in passing.

Hoggle was the first to openly take notice. "Andie, I don't pretend to be brave, I'm just…"

"I know," Andie murmured, her tone borderline cutting. "I just expected better."

"I'm a coward, I'm not brave like you or—"

"I'm not brave," Andie said, her voice shaking a little as she looked down at his guilty face. "I'm not a hero, I'm not brave, I'm not strong, but I'm not a coward and I don't leave my friends behind. I wouldn't be able to live with myself." With that, she moved forward into the new section of the Labyrinth, her arms crossed tightly over her chest as she knew she had to separate herself for a little while. That first real brush with death had been too much and she didn't want any of them to see the way her hands were shaking, the way her eyes were moistening with waning panic. She could still smell the rotten stink of the snake's breath on her face and could see the way the veins riddled the tissue of its mouth, glistening with saliva. She'd never felt that kind of fear before.

 _And I lost my only weapon on top of that_ , Andie thought with a sense of dread, despite the loss having been a necessary one. She turned her eyes toward her hip to regard the empty space, however it wasn't empty at all. The dagger was right where she'd had it before ripping it from its makeshift holster, glimmering in the light. She uncoiled one of her arms to touch the hilt briefly and be sure it was really there, but it was, all silver and crystal accents and cool to the touch. _At least I can depend on you._

* * *

The group didn't last long before they stopped to rest awhile, exhausted from their unexpected, struggle-filled encounter below ground. They opted to stop in one of the passageways, lacking the energy to find another courtyard-like space where they could spread out. Andie sat away from the others as Hoggle parted out food rations, having found a small fountain around the next turn and filling the water jug, which was now being passed around as well. She had worked the dagger free of her belt loop and was studying it when Jareth walked over with the jug, letting it weigh on his fingers as he extended it to her.

At first when she glanced toward it, she regarded it dismissively, but soon decided her throat was too parched to be stubborn and took it, taking three long drinks before handing it back to Jareth. He continued to look down at her a moment before he moved away, handed the jug off to Nyle, and then returned, sitting down next to her and causing her to clench her jaw. "Is taking a hint so difficult?" she wondered quietly as she let her fingertips graze the flat side of the blade.

"Hard to find a hint under all that sulking," Jareth remarked as he regarded her with what looked to her like indifference. "What is the problem?"

"Just learning who will come through in times of trouble," she murmured as she adjusted to a straighter position and winced when her torso throbbed. "That's really all there is to it. I'm mostly just in the mood to rest by myself."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"That you, Nyle, and Hoggle are apparently self-absorbed and in whatever all this is for your own gain," Andie said plainly in a lowered tone. "Actually, no. Just you and Nyle. I think Hoggle just doesn't have a brave bone in his body."

"You realize no one has to make this journey with you, don't you?" he asked. "It's not as if anyone but you will get a result out of all this."

"No one except you," Andie muttered.

"Did you expect me to dirty my sleeves and save you?" Jareth mused with a smirk pulling at his lips, adjusting his nearly pristine white cuffs if only to mock her. "Dashing, debonair king of your dreams come to rescue you, you poor damsel, is that what you want? Because you didn't seem to me like that kind of woman up until this point."

"I'd like some help when I'm, you know, potentially about to die," Andie snapped and added in a hushed tone, "Especially when you expect me to help you in your predicament."

"I recall you saying rather plainly that you wouldn't be going to the extent of 'risking your neck' to help me," he pointed out, beginning to lose his calm. "Why should you expect that of me in regard to you?"

Andie pursed her lips and thought over her words before saying evenly, "I did say that. I wish I'd meant it. But when it comes down to it, I don't."

"I don't follow."

"I wouldn't be able to just leave someone behind," Andie said quietly, a tension in her features that signaled her disinclination to admit this, despite wanting to prove a point. "I talk like I could, but if it came down to it, I doubt I would be able to make that choice, even if it was a stupid decision on my part."

Jareth regarded her silently before glancing upward as the light faded from the sky, replaced by a section of cloudy, overcast gloom. They waited for it to start raining—just the icing on the disaster cake—but it remained still, just a gray tinge to their surroundings now. "That disposition might cost you dearly one day."

Andie closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall. "It might," she agreed and left it at that, slowly opening her eyes when she turned the dagger again in her hands. "I put this in one of those snakes back there," she told him, changing the subject. "How did it end up with me again?"

Jareth let his head roll to glance toward the dagger before replying, "It has blood memory. Lose it here and it will come back to you."

"Why did it change when I got here?" she wondered.

"The enchantment upon it would have it take the form of whatever you would need most in the Labyrinth upon your arrival for your protection. As it is in such a dangerous state of being, a useful, portable weapon was the most ideal direction for the spell. Therefore, it became one."

Andie pondered that, knowing the peach had been meant for her mom. The spell on it had been crafted to allow the object to become something that would protect her and adapt to the environment when she got there. She was beginning to wonder if Hoggle's assumption about a revenge strategy was accurate. It all sounded more like a last-ditch effort for another chance. Or at least an invitation to come back that was less like an invitation and more like a demand. "Would anyone who got cut on it have been brought here?"

He smirked faintly. "Are you asking if you're special?"

"I'm asking a pretty reasonable question."

"No," he murmured. "Not just 'anyone'." His intense bicolored eyes held a knowing element to them and it gave her the heebie-jeebies, so she turned her gaze away before something was revealed.

"Who was supposed to get this?" she asked, deciding that she wanted more information from him directly. She'd heard all kinds of beings here talk about her mother, but she hadn't heard a word from the person—goblin king—who had supposedly loved her. Or, according to Hoggle, thought he was in love with her.

Jareth's eyes darkened a little and he looked away. "What makes you think someone—"

"Because why would something like this just be released for anyone to use? You said yourself that not just anyone could have gotten here, so why me? It wasn't meant for me, so who—"

"How do you know it wasn't meant for you?"

"Because I didn't know you when you made this," Andie replied. "You didn't know me."

"You've now come to the conclusion that I created it," he snickered, dancing away from her original question.

"Hoggle said it was goblin magic," she said impatiently. "I've seen some of the goblins here, none of them would have been able to make something like this. Besides that, Hoggle also said it was your work."

"He would know," Jareth commented as he listened to the others cause a small commotion while trying to construct a fire from scratch.

"Why can't you just answer my questions?"

"I've answered a great deal for you," he pointed out tightly.

"What about this?" When he hesitated again, she added, "I'm just curious, you know, I'm not trying to exploit old wounds or anything."

"Why is it important to you to know?"

"Because I know nothing about this place apart from what I've experienced here and what I've been told," Andie said with some edge of exasperation. "I'd like to feel like I have more level footing than just that. Besides, I've heard bits and pieces from everyone but you. And I think since it's your story, you're the one to ask."

Jareth clenched his jaw a bit and looked fully prepared to get up and stalk away when he finally took a deep breath and exhaled it gradually, the tension in his frame easing out in increments. "It was for Sarah," he finally uttered quietly and the subtle traces of bitterness lining his features almost made Andie regret asking.

"Why?"

"I knew my time, at least the time for my power, was up and I had to do something before it faded completely," he murmured. "I did not know what would become of this place or me. I knew nothing here, should my fears come to fruition, would be able to fix what was lost, but perhaps she could, if only because it was she who brought it all down in the first place. However, I never expected this. In seeing what has become of my labyrinth, I cannot say she would have been able to do much. Nor would she have wanted to if it involved aiding me."

"Because of all the traps?"

"All of it."

Andie nodded a little. "Hoggle said you thought you were in love with her."

" _Thought_ ," Jareth scoffed softly.

"So, you were?"

"Desperately. Not the kind that serves as much to build from, but enough to start on."

"Did she know that?" Andie wondered, trying to push away the strangeness that came with discussing her mother in this ambiguous way.

His brow pinched a little. "I don't believe so." When Andie's expression implored him to continue, he added, "She was young. In all her practiced monologues, large dreams, and expanse of mind, I had assumed she would be well-rounded in all areas of life and its toils, but that was not the case. She did not understand my frustration and I barely understood it, myself. I had never reacted so strongly to someone before. It infuriated me as much as it enlightened me."

She nodded. "Hoggle said it was a random circumstance. That it was out-of-character."

"Is that what you two do when we're not being chased, eaten, or trapped? Gossip about me?"

Andie laughed a little. "What else is there to do?"

Jareth smirked, seemingly relieved to be done with discussing Sarah for now. "Very little that is so interesting, I am sure." She started to send back a quip when she shifted and her torso stung once again and her sass instead came out as a sound of discomfort. He arched a brow. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, just skinned up. Um, excuse you—" Andie had been halfway through blowing off her pain when Jareth had rather boldly reached over and slid the hem of her shirt up over her stomach, revealing the nearly raw wounds underneath coated with a sheen of sweat, dried blood, and a layer of clear fluid secreting from the stripped flesh. Jareth looked borderline horrified at the sight and, had Andie not nearly been in tears from the sensation of the fabric peeling off the severe scrapes, she might've laughed.

He snapped in the direction of the others. "Hawkcore, bandages and…things," Jareth ordered. Hoggle started to get huffy and yell back about the King butchering his name _again_ , but he saw the serious expression Jareth wore and decided it might be worth yelling about later. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because I had questions," Andie remarked stubbornly. "Besides, it looks worse than it feels."

"Not if it gets infected," he groused, grabbing the first aid supplies from Hoggle when he approached without a word. "Foolish little girl…"

"I could do without the name calling, however petty it may be, and you could stand to say 'thank you' when someone does you a favor," she said boldly, sitting up a bit and doing her best to ignore the stinging.

Jareth looked ready to shoot his mouth off again, but he bit down whatever he was prepared to say. Instead, Hoggle spoke up in his timid way of addressing the King, "I can take care of this, Your Highness…"

"I will handle it… Thank you," Jareth said, and Hoggle looked worriedly toward Andie before backing away and rejoining the others, keeping an eye on them from afar.

Andie watched Jareth dab some of the remaining water from the drinking jug onto a cloth before he moved closer to her, gingerly cleaning the wounds on her torso and, while even the lightest touch would hurt, she was surprised at how careful he was. He took great pains to dab salve across every scrape before taking the roll of gauze and ordering her, "Shift forward." She shot him a look before relenting and doing so, trying not to read too much into it as he sat down between her and the wall, his legs on either side of her. "Keep hold of your shirt. Arms up." She hesitantly did as he asked and felt him position the edge of the gauze on an uninjured patch of her side, tsking quietly as he began to wind the gauze around her. "You should see your back, it's a spectra of bruises."

"It'll fade," Andie murmured with a small shrug, maneuvering her elbow against the beginning of her bandage so he could have both hands to wrap her up. She watched his hands work and noted that his cuff had dragged lightly over one of her scrapes at some point, as a small smear of red disrupted the clean fabric. "Your sleeves ended up dirty after all," she pointed out as more of a playful jab than anything, as she felt too awkward to say anything sentimental toward his apparent concern.

Jareth smiled behind her in his crooked way as he continued his work, finally tearing off the bandage and tying it neatly and securely with a small flourish. "So, they did."


	8. Dance Magic

It was only when a shaft of light pouring between patches of clouds in a new potion of sky hit her face that Andie discovered that she'd fallen asleep. She winced against the glare and turned her face away, though it didn't do much good. With a small sigh, Andie opened her eyes and began to do her habitual arm stretch—head tilt, interlocked fingers, the whole shebang—when she also realized she was way too comfortable to be sleeping on a wall.

Andie frowned and cautiously turned her head, glancing downward and seeing a familiar hand resting against the ground, knuckles down, the white cuff around it dotted faintly with a bit of dirt and her own blood. She could only assume that after Jareth had finished bandaging her torso the night—or whatever this world ran on—before, she'd finally been hit with the resulting exhaustion and had…

She peered behind her after moving her head another careful increment. That sight—and the steady heartbeat in her ear—confirmed it. She'd fallen asleep on him.

 _Don't panic_ , Andie told herself sternly even while her pulse began to accelerate, which she forced herself to acknowledge as a reaction to embarrassment alone until she gave up and admitted to herself that he was rather mystically attractive. She was beginning to ready herself to move when a shadow pierced the light shining in her eyes. Andie startled at first, but relaxed when she saw it was just Nyle. At least, initially. When she saw the look on his face, her reaction became muddled. The half-changed goblin-man eyed her and the man sleeping against the wall behind her with a gaze scarcely shy of repulsed, softened only by some strange degree of turning gears and formulation. When his eyes met hers, he stared just a few seconds more before continuing past them back to the others, who were scattered about and all sleeping still.

Andie tried to contain the shiver that threatened to ripple up her spine, warily watching his retreat before positioning herself to stably shift over Jareth's leg. She made it across without jostling him and sat against the wall beside him, admittedly missing the comfort when her shoulders and skull hit stone. She especially wondered if her pride was worth it when her middle ached from the awkward movement, though she felt a bit better once she'd relaxed in her new spot. After dozing off for a few moments more, Andie found herself opening her eyes all over again, but this time it wasn't just Jareth in the vicinity; Hoggle stood nearby with the water jug, seeming to startle when she looked at him even though it appeared that he was waiting for her to wake up. "Something wrong?" she wondered aloud.

"Oh, uh… No… Here," he said awkwardly, handing her the water jug bashfully.

Andie took the jug and tilted it to get a drink, soon handing it back to him with a quiet, "Thanks." Hoggle nodded and started to walk away when Andie added, "Hoggle? I'm sorry for yesterday. I was upset, but I didn't handle it well."

"No, I'm sorry," he said with a heavy sigh, trudging over to sit down next to her. "I'm just a big coward. I thought I'd changed, but I took one look at those snakes and ran for it."

"If it makes you feel better, I think we all wanted to make a run for it," Andie pointed out.

"Yeah, but I was the only one who did without everybody else…"

"I don't know. Nyle ducked out of there pretty fast…"

Hoggle glanced over toward the others, who were all awake now, and said in a lowered tone, "He isn't much of a team player. But he has good intentions, no matter how he acts at times. Trust me."

Andie wasn't so sure about that, but she didn't argue. He would know better than she did, considering he'd known Nyle and the others much longer than she did. "Okay. Are we good?"

Hoggle smiled a little, still trying so hard not to come off as sensitive. "Yeah. We are."

"Awesome."

"Well, isn't that touching." Andie and Hoggle glanced over, seeing Jareth looking at them lazily. "Though you could have had your heartfelt moment a bit more quietly. Some of us are trying to sleep."

"Just you, apparently," Andie noted as she looked toward the others. Hoggle, however, apologized and went back to the group with a small bow. When he was gone, Andie shot Jareth a look. "Really?"

"What?"

"You know, you could stand to be a bit nicer. At least once in a while."

"Dressing your wounds isn't considered nice any longer? What a tragic world this has turned out to be."

"Not just to me, to them, too," Andie asserted. "They're helping us."

"They're helping _you_."

"And by association, also you."

His eyes narrowed. "As they should, I am their king."

"You know what good kings do?" Andie asked frustratedly. "Make their subjects and staff feel appreciated."

"What king has ever lowered himself to such a degree?"

Andie grimaced. "You're a real jerk, you know that?"

Jareth rolled his eyes. "If you say so, little fool… Speaking of foolishness, why are you moving around in your state?"

"I'm not moving around, I'm sitting."

"Well, you had to have moved at some point, as you fell asleep over here."

 _Crap_. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't you," Jareth murmured, somehow torn between being amused and entirely the opposite.

Andie sighed, able to tell she was nearing the end of his rope for the time being. "Fine, I do, but that's not appropriate."

He cracked a smile before laughing. "Appropriate?"

Andie tried to keep a serious tone, but failed, smiling herself and looking away as not to encourage him. "Shut up, you know what I mean."

"I know what you mean and it is hysterical," Jareth chuckled. "I will have you know, however, that I was not ever-so scandalously taking advantage of you."

"It didn't seem like you were, I just didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea, okay?" Andie said defensively through a smirk, feeling her face redden as he continued to laugh at her every time she tried to smooth the situation over. "Stop laughing, you're terrible!"

"I can't help it," Jareth said genuinely, his eyes glittering with mirth. He stood slowly, stretching a bit before taking a couple of steps and crouching in front of Andie, who looked back at him with an arch in her brow. "I will say I've not laughed for quite some time, so forgive me." His smirk pulled more tightly at his lips as he added, "Besides, when we give them the 'wrong idea,' I will do so much more thoroughly." Then the man had the nerve to wink at her before straightening up and heading over to the others, as food was now being parted out.

Andie stared after him with her mouth slightly agape at the sheer boldness of his remark and the confidence with which he left her to process it. She made a small half-laughing sound of disbelief before getting up, herself, and going to get one of the rations. Hoggle met her halfway and handed her what remained of the dehydrated meats and sandwiches she'd added to the stock, looking a bit worried. "We'll have to look for more food some time soon. Find wherever the jungle's floated off to and avoid the Fireys long enough to get some fruit… Or something. Either way, that's the last of it."

She nodded. "We'll find something," she reassured him. Though she really would've preferred that she had been done with the Fireys for the whole of her journey. Andie watched Hoggle walk back to the others and took one of the sandwiches from the small plate he'd given her and took a bite, wondering what they would run into next. While she was munching, she heard a call of "my lady" and she looked over to see Didymus climbing up Ludo's back and hopping a bit on the beast's shoulder. She started back toward them, eating along the way. "What?"

"I am terribly, er… Vertically lacking, my lady," Didymus said with such a discouraged air, Andie had to try hard not to laugh. "Would you mind taking a survey of the landscape. We are hoping to find the jungle, as Hoggle might have said."

"Oh, um… Okay," Andie said uncertainly as she finished her food and set her plate down with the others.

"Wonderful! Ambrosius!" Didymus waited until the sheepdog sidled up to Ludo and then hopped from the giant's shoulder onto its back. "Right then! Up you go, my lady!"

Andie looked doubtfully at Ludo, even as he bent down a little to help her. However, behind her, she heard Nyle say in his normal, eerie tone of voice, "Allow me." She felt his hands dip under her arms, his long fingers cold even through the fabric of her shirt. When he was this close, she realized just how much taller than her he was, which ended up being a positive in this moment. It just made her—who usually felt pretty above average at 5'9"—feel diminutive. As he swung her carefully up onto Ludo's shoulders, Andie didn't notice Jareth's hard stare in their direction, but Nyle certainly did. After he'd gotten Andie in place, he pointedly looked over at Jareth and sneered before glancing back toward Ludo, who was standing up straight while Andie hung on. "Anything?"

Andie was craning her neck to get a good view over the expanse of the Labyrinth, nibbling her lower lip as she nearly popped her back while trying to sit up as straight as she could to get the full view. "I… I don't… Hold on, I think I see it!"

"Do you see how to get there?" Didymus called up to her.

"Yeah, I think so… The problem is that it's still moving around."

"Well… We shall have to do our best to hurry," Didymus declared. "Thank you!" Ludo bent down again and Andie started to maneuver herself off his back, feeling hands brace her just above her waist to balance her when she was climbing down. She glanced over her shoulder and saw it was Jareth this time; he nodded for her to let go, smirking faintly. She released her hold on Ludo's fur and let him lower her the rest of the way, his hands warm and strong.

After he set her down, he let his hands fall to his sides and just looked at her in his smug way until she muttered at him to shut up.

* * *

"Ludo hungry," Ludo said morosely for probably the fifth time since they had started out toward the jungle.

"We are all well aware of that, you big lug," Jareth muttered grumpily, looking more resemblant of Nyle's normally unpleasant demeanor than even Nyle did at the moment.

"We're all hungry, Ludo," Andie sighed sympathetically, running a hand through her hair and wishing they had showers in the Labyrinth. What she wouldn't give for some shampoo…

"What in the world is all this?" Leona wondered from the front of the group, catching everyone else's attention. As they caught up with her, they saw a stretching chasm between their path and the other side, where the path continued, the space between entirely black and bottomless. "Is it another void?"

Didymus peered at it and tapped the surface with his scepter, gasping when the surface rippled with movement, the rings soon disappearing entirely back into the eerily smooth, glass-like plane. "Wouldn't do that if I was you!" crowed a voice nearby, making them all jump.

Andie looked toward the wall, where four free-standing stone statues grinned cheekily, all toting what appeared to be musical instruments, but none like she'd ever seen. "Why not?"

"The Netherbeast lives in there, girlie!" a short, squat one said with alarm.

"He's your worst enemy in those waters," said one with a toothy grin and a shrug of bony shoulders. "And he's your only way to the other side!"

"Hate to sound like a broken record… But what do you mean?"

"Why, you've got to cross somehow, don't ye! Figure it out!"

Andie sighed and murmured, "Why can't everyone be as easy to get by as those guardsmen…," as she looked around, trying to get an idea of what to do. "Ideas?"

There was a consensus of head-shaking and she frowned, looking toward the instruments again. "Why do you have those?"

"Ah, now you're asking the right questions," the tall, skinny statue said approvingly.

"We're a band, of course!" the short one cried.

"And music always soothes the savage beast, if you get my drift…," one of medium height said with a wink. Andie couldn't help but picture a fantastical version of the Beatles when she looked at them.

"So… It likes music?" she wondered.

"Won't know 'til you try, will ye?"

"Um… Okay… Then can I borrow one of your instruments?" Andie asked uncertainly.

"Course not!" the short one squealed.

"We need these! Use your own!"

"We don't have any!" Hoggle shouted, getting frustrated and afraid as he continuously glanced at the water.

"Sure you's do," the tall one said. "Tell you what, you start something and we'll help you. It's easy!"

"Composing a song on the spot?" Andie muttered. "Hardly!" A slight scoff issued from behind her and she turned to see Jareth smirking at the exchange. "What's so funny?"

"Music is simple," Jareth noted. "It's the most fluid element in existence."

"Then you do something!"

Jareth shrugged and looked at the musician with the drums. "You. Start."

"OH, uh, yes. Your Highness," the squat one said as he began a basic rhythm.

Jareth sneered and looked at Andie. " _You remind me of the babe_."

"Excuse me?" she asked, at a complete loss.

" _The babe with the power_ ," he added as if to explain.

"What power?"

" _The power of voodoo_."

"I don't—"

" _You do_!"

"Do what?!"

" _Remind me of the babe_ ," he laughed mirthfully. Andie was visibly frustrated and he chuckled at her misery, extending a hand to her. "Oh, come, you lovely thing, have a bit of fun!"

"I'm so not in the mood t—HEY! What is your deal?!" she cried as he snatched her hand in mid-gesture and tugged her over to him, catching her by the waist as if they were waltzing. "I thought you were supposed to be helping!"

"I am," Jareth proclaimed with a crooked grin, spinning her about as he started to sing, the entire band joining in now that they had something to play to. There was a strange draw to the way his voice sounded, all soft rock and magic spells. Andie eventually stopped feeling miffed and embarrassed about being flounced around by the baffling King of Goblins, noticing how much fun he was having. She wondered if that was how he'd been before on a normal day, before her mom and before all the turmoil of unrequited affections. His elation was infectious and she soon forgot that she didn't know how to dance, and also that she was supposed to be fighting this. " _What kind of magic spells to use…_ ," he sang, tugging her close and leaning his forehead against hers as she tried—and failed—not to smile. The musical statues sang backup for him then, giving a string of spell ingredients that resembled any fairytale her world could've cooked up.

Jareth seemed to grow happier as she let him lead her, the rest of their group either dancing or swaying with the beat of the instruments and Jareth's voice. Even Nyle, all gloom and doom, was nodding his head to the beat, watching it all unfold. He twirled her again and sang out the refrain at last, " _Dance, magic, dance! Dance, magic, dance! Put that baby spell on me! Jump, magic, jump!_ " A peculiar tilt entered his smile just before he switched his other hand down to her waist as well, boosting her up in a perfectly choreographed lift as she yelped in surprise, causing him to throw his head back and laugh. From the group, Nyle was watching this exchange again, more speculatively than was normal, even for him.

Andie looked over toward the water when he'd set her down and danced with her again, pointing as what appeared to be the back of a long, black, scaly creature crested from the water. "Look," she murmured. Jareth followed her gaze and nodded toward the others to start across, still singing. The scaled body continued to span the stretch of the gap until finally, a large, spiny head surfaced at the end, resting on the other side, eyes closed. The creature was sound asleep. Once everyone was on their way over, he looked down at her, meeting her gaze and looked as if he had something he wanted to say, but he just kept singing, giving her one more playful spin before steadying her and ushering her toward the edge of the chasm.

They both stepped onto the creature's back and Jareth didn't take the chance that stopping his song would be, continuing to repeat the chorus until they were all the way across and well on their way from the area in case the creature woke up right away. The band cheered their exit and soon they were far away from the chasm and the stone musicians. "Who knew you were a singer," Andie commented as she walked beside Jareth just a few steps behind the rest of the group.

"Everyone but you," he chuckled, his voice melodic as it was nice and warmed up now. "Do you sing?"

"In the shower," Andie laughed. "Not publicly like you just did."

"Hm, well, now I know where to go to hear you," Jareth remarked with a wink.

"Good luck with that," she snarked back, looking away to hide a faint blush.

"OH, NO!" Hoggle shouted just feet in front of them and before Jareth and Andie could react and stop walking, they'd toppled into the rest of their group. The added weight on the single spot was enough and they all fell down as the floor once again collapsed under them, though this time they were all rolled into a stone tunnel, issuing a variety of shouts and yells until they spilled onto a ledge, all scrambling to hang on to something. Jareth nearly slid off the edge, but Andie and Leona both grabbed him before he fell, hauling him up.

"Should've let him drop," Nyle remarked, his hand over his nose. "He's threatened enough of us with this place!"

"I'll hex you on the spot if you suggest such treason again!" Jareth shouted at him, putting his arm over his nose and mouth once he stood.

"Would you both just— _oh_ , what is that smell?!" Andie asked miserably.

"Smell?" Didymus wondered, vaguely confused by everyone's disgust.

"It's the Bog!" Hoggle wailed. "The Bog of Eternal Stench!"

"SMELL BAD."


	9. And Hardships Unnumbered

"Why do we keep falling down holes?" Leona groused as she lifted a stone paw and the green, gooey substance under their feet clung on. "And why must they smell like the giant's feet?" Ludo made a disgruntled sound nearby at that comment. She shot him a look and noted, "It is not my fault. I have small stature and you do not bathe."

"Why do you sound Russian?" Andie wondered under her breath as she looked at the sphinx berating the furry beast nearby.

"Knock it off," Jareth grunted from behind his hand. "Figure out how to get us out of here."

"What's wrong, Your Highness, can't you handle the reek of your own land?" Nyle shot his way.

"Land? Are you certain it's not you?" Jareth snarled.

Andie rolled her eyes and looked down, seeing the stretch of the swampland under them, foul vapors accompanied by indicative noises spurting from geysers smattering the grey-green water. She looked on either side of their ledge and found no immediate path from where they stood. Then something occurred to her. "Sir Didymus?"

The terrier looked at her. "Yes, my lady?"

"Aldo and Grita told me I could find you here if I wanted to talk to you," she said. "Are you normally in this place?" It was all she could do not to gag on the smell and she finally put her sleeve against her nose. Her waist throbbed from falling on her bandaged scrapes.

"This was my post some time ago," Didymus said proudly, extending his scepter from his left hand. "Over yonder, fair lady, was where I was meant to guard." That explained why he and Ambrosius were both panting freely despite the putrid environment.

"Do you know a way to get us down?" she asked hopefully.

"Hmm…," Didymus murmured as he looked around, taking note of their location. "Ah! Indeed, I do! FWAH!" With that ferocious cry, he smacked his scepter against a specific point in the wall and stone slabs slid out from the ledge, forming narrow, winding stairs. "Ah-ha! There we are!"

"Fantastic," Andie sighed with relief, following the others down the makeshift steps to the mossy ground below, where the smell only seemed to get worse. "Better would be how we get out of here…"

"Well, there was once a bridge where I took my post," Didymus said, considering the river just some yards away. "How did we manage to cross before?"

"Search me," Hoggle said sheepishly. "I went ahead."

"Shocking," Nyle snarked quietly.

"Do you remember, Ludo?" Didymus asked hopefully. The beast considered his words before seeming to smile. An echoing roar later, rocks were tumbling into and rising out of the rancid-smelling water, forming a path for them to cross. It amazed Andie how useful that ability had proved to be in a number of situations now. "Wonderful, my friend! Of course it was the rocks!"

Andie stepped onto one of the rocks and a rather damning noise squelched out of the stone. She paled and claimed, "That was _not_ me," before taking another step and having the same sound erupt from the next stone, but higher this time. "Are you kidding me?!"

Behind her, Jareth was nearly red-faced from trying not to laugh at her reactions, at least until he stepped onto a stone, himself, and received the same treatment. Andie turned to look at him and, upon witnessing his indignant expression, lost her composure entirely. "I am the king of this land, how dare they," he noted as he stepped forward and another flatulent sound boomed in the air. He shot a glare toward Andie and noted, "Laugh all you please, but I'd recommend not falling into the water while you do."

"I wasn't planning on it. I'm assuming the 'Eternal Stench' part rings true?" she said as she worked her way across.

"Indeed, it does," he noted with his sleeve back over his nose. "And I would absolutely _hate_ to have to keep you at arm's length."

"On second thought…"

"Am I really so repulsive?" he wondered with a falsely dismal air, placing his hand over his heart as he stepped off the last rock, Andie already on the other side.

"You're something, all right," she remarked, watching the others work their way across.

"I shall take that as a compliment, my lady," Jareth said with a smirk, though she couldn't help but notice that there was a certain edge to the endearment that Didymus' own uses of the phrase lacked. She just couldn't place what it might be.

While she was deep in thought, she heard a sudden yip of surprise and snapped back to reality to see Didymus knocked off balance from his saddle after Ambrosius took a particularly sloppy jump between the last two rocks. Before she could even think of how to react, Jareth had reached forward and snatched the terrier out of mid-air, just inches shy of hitting the bubbling bog water. Didymus looked jarred when he was set down on the ground, his breath leaving him in small, startled puffs. "Oh, I, th-thank you, Your Highness," he stuttered and Andie wasn't sure whether the near-fall or Jareth's help had shocked him more.

Jareth only inclined his head a fraction and then turned to lead the way from the edge of the Bog. Andie and the others followed, but as she was looking over the group, she found they were one short. She turned around and saw Hoggle lingering by the edge of the Bog, attempting to reach something while holding his bulbous nose shut. "Hoggle?"

"Almost… Got it… There!" he said triumphantly, turning around. Between his fingers was a small dirt-splotched cog that shone gold when he swiped off the debris. "What do you reckon it is?"

"It looks like a gear," she murmured, kneeling down to look at it. "What would it be doing in a place like this?"

"I don't know," he declared. "But I'm keeping it."

She smiled, remembering the collection of shiny trinkets he had. "Okay. Let's catch up with the others."

* * *

After escaping the Bog of Eternal Stench, it seemed that the more they walked, the less they knew where they were. Andie tried getting on Ludo's shoulders again to get a view of the landscape, but a dense fog had draped over their sector of the Labyrinth and there was little they could do to evade it without moving forward. So, that was exactly what they did. At least until their hunger grew nearly unbearable and weariness set in.

The only one who didn't seem fazed by this was Jareth and Andie wondered why until she remembered he'd been down in the oubliette for millennia without sustenance and had only survived because of time's ceasing to exist. He'd locked eyes with starvation a thousandfold, way past what anyone should ever experience, because he could not die. Just the thought of the toll it should have taken on his mental state made her shudder. He glanced over the others before noting, "I am going on ahead."

"Just going to leave us, eh?" Nyle remarked coldly. "Same as ever."

"You lot, perhaps," Jareth noted flippantly. He placed one gloved hand on Andie's head as he passed her to head down the path, "This one, I'll be back for." Andie smiled faintly as Jareth left them, leaning against the wall and trying not to think about food or water, as their jug had run empty just a short time ago.

"You know, he liked me once, too." Andie looked over and saw Nyle moving to stand against the wall next to her, towering lankily over her in height difference, all charcoal skin and glittering teeth. "It does not last. Trust me."

"You two don't seem to get along," she agreed, not naysaying either involved party.

He smirked sardonically. "Friend, then lover, then heir, then court jester…," he murmured with a dark edge to his tone and a snarl in his lip. "Then finally nothing. It doesn't just end, it lessens until it ceases to exist by itself. Just be prepared, that's all I have to tell you."

"I'm sorry, Nyle. That sounds awful. But we're not involved," Andie said quietly. "I don't think there's much to worry about there."

Nyle looked at her dubiously. "You think so. Keep thinking it. You'll save yourself some humiliation at least."

"I'm serious, I'm trying to find my way back to my world, there's nothing going on."

"The way you two looked at each other while you were dancing said otherwise," he said pointedly, making Andie flush. "But what do I know, right?" With that, he moved away from the wall, going to stand off on his own. Andie pondered his words, feeling sorry for him if it was all true. Though what reason did he have to lie to her? He clearly didn't want Jareth back, so he wouldn't feel threatened by her. The more she thought about it, there really was no conceivable reason for him to fill her head with doubts.

 _Friend. Lover. Heir. Jester. Mocked in front of the entire court after being named its next leader. What a horrid thing to do_ , she thought, feeling a little sick as she wondered if the man she'd come to be rather fond of—as that was all she was allowing herself to admit at this point—was more-so the Goblin King everyone else seemed to fear.

"The jungle is just ahead." His voice suddenly came from directly beside her and startled her so noticeably, he gave her a suspicious look before looking back toward the others. "If we do not hurry, we may miss it."

"No time to waste then," Leona said, rising as they all filtered into the next winding path, following Jareth through a careful series of turns until they saw the free-moving section of the maze, for the moment caught on the edge of a dead end blown to smithereens. They crossed the small gap between and fell silent as they warily looked for Fireys, all while hoping there was food somewhere around. Hoggle had to hold Didymus back with one large hand over his mouth as he was likely to rush in with a war cry at the first chance he got.

They were still barely creeping forward when Nyle waved for their attention and pointed toward a tree a short distance away. The tree was brimming with succulent-looking pink and orange fruits, much like the coloration of the Fireys, which made Andie a bit nervous. However, the others seemed to think they were safe, so she went ahead with Jareth, Nyle, Leona, and Ludo to retrieve them while Hoggle kept Didymus from blowing their cover. That was, if it wasn't already blown.

"Where are they?" she whispered to Jareth, who shrugged. A moment later, he pulled on a lock of her hair and, with obvious forethought, put a hand over her mouth before she could snap at him, pointing to their right. She followed his gesture and saw a doused fire pit through what was left of the fog, surrounded by sleeping Fireys. Some of them were missing limbs and one had its head in its lap, but they were all resting. Now the only trouble was not waking them. "We should hurry."

"Indeed," he said quietly in agreement, looking up at the limb holding the bunch of fruits. "What will we put them in?"

"It would be more efficient to take the whole bunch," Nyle noted. "Still have that dagger, Andie?"

"Whether I want it or not," she murmured, as it always seemed to come back to her.

"Come here." When she'd moved over, he picked her up and hoisted her as high as he could, which was impressively high with the length of his limbs and body. "Ludo, be ready to catch it." When Ludo was in position, she began to saw at the stem.

"Hurry!" Leona hissed.

"I'm working on it," Andie gritted softly, halfway through the thick plant.

"TO THE DEATH WITH YE, COWARDS!"

"Oh, no," Leona growled.

"Oh, _shit_ ," Andie muttered when she looked over and saw Didymus making a beeline toward the Fireys, wielding his staff high just before bringing it down on one hot pink feathery head. She sawed faster and the bunch of fruit fell off the tree into Ludo's waiting hands just as the insufferable creatures began to rouse and shriek. "Hoggle, I thought you had it handled!"

"Ambrosius was supposed to watch him while I got another one of these, uh, _gears_!" He was over by another tree and held up another small golden cog that seemed to gleam on its own in the overcast light.

"You left the job to a sheepdog?!"

"Argue later, let's go!" Nyle snapped as he put Andie down and sprinted for the pathway. Leona and Ludo were close behind.

Andie jammed the dagger back through her belt loop as she hurried behind them, Jareth hesitating halfway between the others and her. She ran faster and felt a weight hit her stomach when she saw that the gap between the Labyrinth and the jungle had widened, the black nothingness of the voids spattering the maze stretching between. She hesitated, hearing the racket of the Fireys and turning just in time to see Didymus and Ambrosius charge forward, leaping past them to get across.

"Get going!" Jareth shouted at her in frustration, looking over his shoulder to be sure they weren't in danger yet.

"I don't know if I can, do you see how wide that is?!"

"You have to trust yourself, Andie, you can't get anywhere without that," he told her frustratedly, shaking his head as the brush began to rustle more nearby. Giving up on his short-lived motivational speech, Jareth stepped toward her. "Or at least trust me this once. Can you do that?"

She parted her lips to speak, but was at a loss for words until she heard herself say, "Yeah… I think so." She just couldn't wrap her mind around the distance; logically, her legs couldn't propel her that far. The other gap she'd jumped had seemed so minimal compared to this.

"That's enough, then," he murmured and put an arm around her waist. "Ready? We'll run on three." She nodded shakily as he began to count for them both. "One… Two… Three!"

They both ran forward just as the Fireys rushed through the trees and bushes, cackling and shrieking madly, some of them mismatched and in absolute disarray. When they reached the edge, Jareth jumped, pulling her along with him and they'd made the first half of their arc to the other side when Andie felt something latch onto her leg. The shock of added weight pulled her out of Jareth's grasp and she and the Firey who had jumped them both fell down into the void.

Jareth was off-kilter when he hit the other side, rolling once when he fell to the stone, realizing only when he dropped that he was alone. He scrambled upright and ran toward the edge again, only to be stopped by Leona and Nyle. "Unhand me!"

"She's gone!" Nyle shouted as Jareth threw his arm out from in front of him, knocking him back. "Who knows where she went or if you'll even end up in the same place!"

If looks could kill, Jareth would have lain waste to the whole of his kingdom, his fury only redirected when the Firey that had pulled Andie off him fell out of a void plastered across a tree back in the jungle, tumbling out dizzily as its colleagues laughed maniacally. They all waited for Andie to appear as well, almost hoping she wouldn't so she wouldn't be trapped with those creatures, but a sense of despair set in when there was no sign of her. "Where could she have gone?"

Nyle sighed, for once looking at a complete loss. "In this place… Who knows?"


	10. Reorderment of Time

Andie hadn't had a chance to scream before hitting the dark stretch of nothingness in the lengthening gap between the jungle and the rest of the Labyrinth and once she fell through, the sensation of suffocating hit her like a ton of bricks. She couldn't explain it, even later after thinking it through, how she could feel herself choking for breath when nothing impeded her airway. It felt like she could breath if she wanted to—and, _oh_ , did she want to—but she just couldn't make it happen. It was drowning while still feeling in control.

It felt like solid minutes before she exited the void and, when she did, she felt gravity latch on again instantaneously. Partially because the void she fell from was in a ceiling.

Without breath to scream, Andie plummeted and fell hard against stone floor, barely able to breathe the air she finally had. Sucking in a breath, she exhaled loudly with relief, coughing and wheezing before finally feeling herself stabilize, her heart pounding, hurling itself against her ribs. _I'm alive… I'm alive…_

Searing pain danced through her torso when she moved, shifting onto her elbows to push herself up. When she didn't hear voices, she assumed she was alone. However, she couldn't anticipate where she'd ended up and all she could hope for was a complete lack of Fireys wherever it may be. When she looked up, the only familiar aspect of where she was happened to be the building material; uniform pathways gone, she was in a vaulted, circular room.

Andie winced as she stood, turning to look around before peering up at the peak of the ceiling, where solid black matter was spread faultlessly like glass. "I'm lucky I didn't break something," she murmured under her breath, seeing how high up it was. She debated shouting something along the lines of "hello" into the empty space, but thought better of it, chiding herself for thinking of such a horror movie cliche as a solution at a time like this. Instead, she looked for something, anything, that would tell her where she was or give her an idea of how she could rejoin her friends.

At least the first part of her question was answered when she looked over and saw a throne carved out of the same stone as the floor and walls with a curved backing the color of bone, still standing intact for the most part, unlike the rest of the area. Was this the castle at the center of the Labyrinth? It had to be, she figured, and approached the throne, climbing out of the pit and stepping around stray piles of rubble and pieces of the infrastructure that had collapsed with the rest of the building. She ran her fingers over the arm of the throne after stepping upon the few stairs leading up to it, finding it smooth to the touch. Andie took another quick look around and, deciding she was alone, she eased herself into the throne, looking over the room from the king's point of view.

 _Former point of view…_ , she rephrased mentally, soon deciding the throne wasn't comfortable enough to stay on, especially when she had colleagues to find. She rose and started to move toward the hallway across from the throne, but paused when a faint glimmer occurred just to her left. Frowning, she turned, seeing what appeared to be a broken, dusty clock that seemed to hang still as death in mid-air. Andie was afraid to touch it for fear she might break it, as it looked important, despite its inaccuracy; the number thirteen joined its twelve predecessors on the face. As she drew nearer, she noticed that there were pieces missing, including what looked like five or six of the cogs behind the fragmented surface and one of the hands. She at first wondered if that's what Hoggle had found in the Bog and the jungle, but couldn't confirm it yet without the actual cogs to try.

Once she'd finished observing the clock, Andie was going to leave when something occurred to her as she looked around the desecrated space. Time had stopped. Nothing aged, wilted, withered, or died. Not since her mother had brought the Labyrinth and its ruler to a stand-still.

She immediately set off in another direction in hopes of locating the kitchens.

* * *

After finding the food, having a short session of indecision as she remembered the freaky scene from _Pan's Labyrinth_ when the kid ate food from that maze, and then saying to hell with it and sating her hunger, she packed up some of the remaining edibles to take with her, working her way back into the rest of the castle to see if anything else of use turned up. Once she caved and figured she ought to get a move on, she walked back to the throne room, only to find that the main entrance to the castle was completely submerged in rubble from the higher towers.

Andie took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, circling around the throne room and peering out the windows to see if she could exit that way, but there was a deep layer of broken stone around the bottom of the castle, so she at last admitted to herself that she needed another way out. Taking the hallway she'd avoided while scouting out the kitchen, she hurried up a flight of stairs and walked into a large chamber that defied reason. Staircases piled on top of staircases upside-down, right side-up, sideways, every which way for as far as she could see up and down. Chunks of them drifted aimlessly in the air like discarded puzzle pieces, adding to the disarray. "Giving Escher a run for his money, I see…," she muttered before backing out of the chamber, not wanting to deal with the puzzling optical illusion of a place even if it meant a quicker way out. Then again, nothing seemed quick about that network of steps.

She took the stairs higher and went into the next level of the castle, hurrying through dusty stone passageways eroded by time and looking for a staircase that might lead down to another exit. Andie reached the end of the hall and peered out the window, surprised by how far down the ground was from that vantage point. "Dammit," she murmured and stopped to think. _If I were another exit… Or an escape route… Where would I be?_

Andie pondered that a few seconds more before uttering to herself, "King's chambers," and starting her search. She'd maneuvered down three more hallways—they seemed to just go forever—until she saw a large double doorway with a high arching jamb, golden handles caked with the dust of ages curved against the surface on both doors. Wrinkling her nose faintly as she took the handle, she pulled with all her might, swinging the heavy door open enough for her to slip through into the room.

Her first observation was that it was dark. Her next was that she nearly fell through a gaping hole in the floor. Able to catch herself before she fell back to square one with potentially worse injuries this time around, she toed the edge of the gap so she didn't fall through again, carefully working her way across the room essentially blind until she reached the far wall, where she saw a window peeking through two heavy curtains. As soon as she was within arm's length of the drapes, she reached out and flung one side open, then the other as soon as she confirmed her path was clear. Light spilled through the room and she turned, her eyes catching on the maw opening up the intricately detailed flooring—said details barely noticeable under all the rubble—until she took a better look around.

The chamber was absolutely filled with fineries and trinkets. The most bare areas of the room were the large bed at the far end and the opposite side of the room, where a luxurious rug lay spread across the floor under bits of stone and debris. The entirety of the chamber was decked in dark, rich purples and steely grey tones, countless silver sculptures and votive holders lining shelves and wardrobes scattered around the perimeter. If she had hours, Andie figured she wouldn't get a proper look at every single novelty amongst the candles and silks, as they were in impeccable numbers. Thinking of dusting all of them almost made her physically ill.

As she looked up, she noticed that the entire ceiling was mural with detailing of fairytale scenes, all epic battles and familiar romantic gestures between love interests. There were a few sections of the mural more on the erotic side as well, she noticed, and wondered why she was surprised at this. "Right, exit," she remembered, knowing she didn't really have the time to moon over the castle ruins for hours on end. _Well, technically… I do_ , she noted, thinking how apparently almost fifty years in her world equated to millennia in this world. It was more than likely that only a few moments had passed in her world, though she'd easily been in the Labyrinth for days now. _Mm, no, I don't. Everyone still running around the maze probably thinks I'm dead_.

Andie began searching the room, running her hands along the crumbling walls and checking the backs of wardrobes in case this realm held semblances of Narnia's laws of physics. When nothing turned up, she huffed and checked the distance down from the window, looking around hopefully for any vines to climb down. Ah, there were some, but they led right down into the garden they'd been darting around before, avoiding those monstrous flytraps. Decidedly, she stepped away from the window and was nearly out of the room when a ray of light from the window touched one of the many trinkets in the room. Andie wouldn't have looked back had it not given off a strange golden aura.

Frowning, she turned and saw something she'd missed at the foot of the bed, the only glimmering thing not on a shelf or dresser top in the room. It was a scepter perhaps as long as her arm, maybe a little longer, silver and decorated minimally at the head with pinhead-sized blue gems resembling sapphires. Skirting the hole in the floor, she approached the bed and looked over the intricately crafted piece, picking it up and weighing it in her hands. It had some heft to it, but it was surprisingly light for the way it looked and she found herself able to move it nimbly between her palms. The design reminded her of the swirling galaxy of "Starry, Starry Night," especially with how it gave off a somehow golden sheen when the light hit it perfectly in the neglected room. Andie also couldn't help but notice as she turned it over that it was the only object in the room—in the castle, even—to not have collected a single speck of dust.

Andie considered it a moment longer before taking it along with her as she left the room, wondering what else she could possibly try to get out of this place and back into the Labyrinth, something she'd never thought she would be trying to do. She somehow ended up back in the Escher catastrophe of a chamber and was about to turn and leave when she noticed that the bottom of the room didn't simply go on forever; it was covered by one of the voids that smattered the Labyrinth, black as night and entirely unforgiving.

She didn't like the idea that popped into her head and, pacing the staircase she was nearest to, she tried to talk herself out of it. However, she didn't have much choice, as every other exit that wouldn't kill her the moment she stepped out of it—ground floor exits, all blocked by rubble, when her only other options were hundreds of feet in the air—and she'd appeared somewhere else after falling in a void once… So had the Cleaner upon her arrival, come to think of it. Maybe that was how they worked; there was only one way to find out.

Andie paced and took deep breaths, murmuring assurances to herself and psyching herself up. _Leap of faith, that's what they all keep talking about, right? It works for distance, maybe it works for doubt_. _Though it doesn't help when you can't see the other side of where you're going…_

She pursed her lips and smirked a little bitterly. _But that's life. Isn't it._

She jumped.

* * *

"Has _no one_ ever fallen into a void before? No one _sane_ anyway?! I find that entirely hard to believe," Nyle bellyached for the fifth time in the past hour, throwing up his hands as they meandered through the Labyrinth. They had remained beside the void Andie had fallen into for a long while after she'd disappeared, all hoping beyond hope that she'd resurface and laugh it off or at least climb out so they could help her back to safety. However, the longer they'd stared at the unstirring black surface, the further their hopes had fallen. She was gone from that part of the Labyrinth and, just in case she'd somehow survived, they had to keep moving. Perhaps there was help to be found that they could return with to retrieve her.

"I've seen Cleaners and Fireys end up in the voids, but they're so hard to tell apart," Hoggle noted dismally. "I never know if it's the same one."

"They're not exactly sane anyway," Leona added before thoughtfully noting, "and maybe that's how they become insane…"

"This is not what I need to hear," Didymus said worriedly, his furry eyebrows crumpled toward each other. "Lady Andie must be all right! She simply must be! Come, we must rescue fair maiden…somehow…"

With that, the group continued on, all still attempting to brainstorm a solution or, at the very least, a probable outcome, though no one wanted to say what they were all thinking, which was also the worst case scenario. The only one saying absolutely nothing was Jareth, who brought up the rear of the group, his thousands of years showing in his eyes as he withdrew into his thoughts. The others avoided speaking to or looking directly at him for this reason, as none of them but perhaps Nyle could recall ever seeing the King in such a state. Needless to say, not one individual in the party wanted to be the one to jar him back to reality at a time like this.

"The Goblin City?" Hoggle wondered aloud, which got everyone's attention. Accurately, he gestured toward the crumbling gates, one of the doors swinging on one half-broken hinge. "Do we have to go in there?"

"Have to? No," Leona replied. "But, are we? …Probably."

"Why do we have to?!" Hoggle fretted openly.

"Because what choice do we have?" Nyle snapped. "There might be something worthwhile there or in the castle. Supplies. Information. Food other than these godawful fruits we went such great lengths to procure."

"Good enough for me," Leona said, maneuvering her slim stone form around the broken gate door. The others somewhat reluctantly followed, all keeping a weather eye out for any movements around them.

* * *

When Andie emerged from the limiting atmosphere of the void this time, she was upright and under an abundance of… Trash?

She burst from the blackness and flung out an arm, hurling broken toys and tattered fabrics and useless parts of who knew what out of her way, worming her way to the surface of an absolute junk pile. When her head broke the surface, she removed a filthy doll dress from atop her head and looked around, hoping to scope out a landmark to tell where she was. However, she only saw the castle and the city outside it. Though she did glimpse something that gave her hope. "HEY!" she cried, waving her arm to try to get her friends' attention as they slipped through the Goblin City gate. When they didn't turn, she shouted again, more loudly this time, but she was too far away for even Leona to hear.

Sighing, she shook her head and wriggled out of the junkyard heap, rolling over garbage until she fell into a rut between the piles, grimacing faintly at the smell. It was no Bog of Eternal Stench, but it smelled something of mildew, dirt, and disappointment. "Couldn't be fairy glens or mermaid coves or fields of kittens. Just had to be junkyards, bogs, metaphysical mazes…," she muttered, getting up and brushing herself off as she started to head toward the Goblin City. "Not to mention almost everyone here is absolutely mental…"

"WATCH WHERE YER GOIN' THERE!"

Andie immediately took her foot off a particular trash heap she'd been meaning to cross only to see it rise and move around, soon turning to reveal a little old lady on the other side. "Oh, sorry, ma'am."

"Well, you certainly should be," she huffed. "Especially when I was just about to show you something you might like to see."

She wasn't so sure of this. "I'm sure you were. Listen, I have to…" Andie paused, looking past the woman into an opening on the heap. "What in the world?"

Inside was—in some way or another—a place she'd only seen in pictures. It was her mother's childhood bedroom in full form within the garbage just when Andie was so sure she had seen it all.

"Now, don't you want to go see your toys, my dear?" the old woman coaxed in a nasally voice, urging her toward the room.

Andie had just started to inform her that this wasn't her room and those weren't her toys—obviously without magic or time, the room hadn't changed since Sarah had left, but the woman didn't seem to know that—when her eye caught on a golden glint shimmering near the far wall. Remembering the broken clock in the castle and the gears Hoggle had insisted on collecting thus far, she apprehensively let the woman with a massive cluster of trash on her back herd her into the room, which sealed itself behind them.


	11. No Ordinary Girl

_"What's this?"_

 _"Oh! Careful, sweetie,"_ Sarah had warned gently, steadying Andie's tiny hands on the familiar, dainty music box with the dancer at its center. _"It's a music box."_ Wide jade eyes had taken in the trinket and the little girl looked it over for how to start it. _"Here, hold on."_ She'd kissed the top of Andie's head and reached around her to turn the key under the base, winding it four times before releasing it and easing it back into the child's grasp. The two watched the dancer turn as notes were gently plucked from the mechanism inside, both observing the heirloom's progress until the music faded. _"It was my mother's."_

 _"I want to have it someday!"_ Colette had interjected as always once she heard that, knowing that was leading up to the "and someday it will be yours" conversation and not wanting to be out anything potentially important.

Before seven-year-old Andie could get huffy, Sarah had laughed in her goodnatured way, faint creases decorating the corners of her eyes from how often she smiled. _"Maybe someday. But for now, go help Dad finish with dinner, okay?"_

Both girls had gotten up and, while Colette raced to be the first in the kitchen, Andie lingered and continued to peek into the cardboard box. _"Who is this?"_ she asked, a standard 4x6 photo now holding her attention.

Sarah smiled. _"Me when I was your age."_

Andie looked shocked. _"Really?"_ She studied the picture with renewed interest. _"What are you holding?"_

Sarah leaned forward and looked at the photo before answering, _"Oh, he was a special one. That was my favorite teddy bear, Lancelot."_

 _"Why isn't he in the box?"_

 _"He got lost in transition to my first house with Dad, I'm afraid,"_ Sarah sighed before conspiratorially whispering, _"I think he might have been a bit jealous."_

Andie laughed and, upon hearing David call them for dinner, ran to the doorway and paused, looking back at her mom as she put away the music box where they'd unearthed it—the small box that remained of her childhood belongings. The one she still had years and years later. _"Will Colette get it?"_ Andie had wondered and Sarah had noted for what would be one amongst a thousand times that her youngest was old in soul. Where Colette would have asked that question with tears beading in her eyes before even having an answer and then given a shrill, "That's not fair!" before storming away, Andie had looked hopeful and asked for the answer Sarah would give, not the answer Andie necessarily wanted.

Sarah had contemplated her daughter silently. Colette was the spitting image of Sarah's younger self in personality and reactiveness. Andie was her spitting image in appearance. How strange it was to look at her baby girl and see herself, but know that her daughter would see the entire world so differently through the jewel-like eyes she had inherited from her mother. In some ways, Sarah counted herself as glad for that.

She'd smiled at last and said, _"Maybe. Maybe not. But that's our secret, sweets. Understand?"_

Andie grinned, missing two teeth. _"Got it,"_ she had whispered before disappearing, too.

* * *

"Oh, now there you go, dear, much better in your room, now isn't it? Hmmm?"

 _Would you shut up…_ , Andie griped mentally, as for now she needed the strange old woman to think that she had the upper hand. She had no idea what kinds of dangers she might pose, particularly on her turf in enclosed space. Keeping her head, Andie took a good look at the room, trying to surreptitiously locate where she'd seen a golden sheen and just hoping beyond hope that it hadn't been some part of the illusion. "Um, yeah. Awesome."

"Now, let's see here… Ooh, how about some board games, you love your board games, don't you?"

"Whatever, knock yourself out—wait, what the—" Andie had lost control of her words for a moment, but suddenly she felt light thuds smack into her back and, when the weight didn't disappear, she looked over her shoulder. "Are you kidding me?"

"Let's see what else we've got here… Oooh!"

"What is this?" Andie demanded under her breath as she tried to get the box stuck to her back to budge and it did no such thing. She looked at the woman's crumpled, junk-ridden back and got a sickening sensation in her stomach. _I have to get the cog and bail._

"Here are your bunny rabbits, too! Ooh, you love your bunnies, dear!" She felt more objects—at least these were lighter—being stacked on her back and she realized that to win the game, she had to play it.

Andie let herself relax and wandered over toward the bookshelf over the bed, pulling off a couple of books and putting them on the rest of the stuff accumulating on her back and shoulders. _Books, of course, you just had to go with books, heaviest freaking things in the_ freaking _room!_ She continued to move over her mother's old possessions in a stoic, zombielike way, earning delighted crowing _ooh_ 's from the woman alongside some commentary over what she was choosing, making it incredibly clear that the woman was watching her progress and closely.

She continued to pull books and sort through some of the stuffed animals lying about, unable to avoid noticing in her search what belongings had survived the moves Sarah had made from her father's house to the homes she'd had after getting married. Andie could see the music box out of the corner of her eye and remembered finding it as a child and also how it managed to soothe her ailing mother now. Her heartstrings pulled; all this time in the Labyrinth and she'd hardly given thought to her mother's condition. Though it wasn't terminal and she was doing better, she was still in a state of confusion and Andie was sure that, no matter how much time had passed in the real world, Colette had managed to put her foot in her mouth at least three times since her departure. _Give her some credit, Andie, at least she's started to really try._

"Oooh, look what I've found!" Andie looked over and saw the woman eying up the glistening scepter still in her hand. "That's a lovely thing, no? Don't you want to add that to your collection?" Andie debated internally, trying to think of a good excuse to keep it in her hand while she pawed through the room, but while she hesitated, the Junk Lady advanced. "That would look very nice on my back, don't you think so…"

"It's mine," Andie said firmly, startling the woman. "And I'm saving it for last. For the very top."

"Oooh… A good idea, my dear," the Junk Lady said, but only half-convincingly. She still eyed the scepter like a hungry vulture, but she backed away at the solidity of Andie's resolve, going off to look through another part of the room. When she continued with her cooing, Andie continued to look. Finally, on the wall shelf, she saw the glittering again in a more concentrated area. Without seeming too suspicious, Andie maneuvered her way over to the shelves of displayed toys and looked for the source, finally seeing a golden cog wedged into a crack at the back of one of the cubbies. _Thank goodness this wasn't for nothing, my back will ache for days_ , she thought dismally as she reached in and plucked it out, wondering how it had ended up there in the first place.

Tucking the gear into her palm, Andie heard the Junk Lady shuffle in behind her, attempting to add more things to her back, but she'd found what she wanted now. No more games.

With that, Andie straightened and dumped the entire hoard of stuff she'd accumulated onto the woman once she'd gotten close enough and, while the Junk Lady screeched from underneath the pile, Andie looked for a way out. She spotted one and took one step across the bed toward it, but hesitated, looking back at the shelves for a reason she couldn't quite place. As soon as she took another look, she knew why; sitting in one of the center cubbies—a place of honor, she was sure—was a teddybear she'd seen in a picture a long time ago. _Lancelot_.

Without hesitating any longer, she took the bear off the shelf and hurdled over the struggling gremlin and the piles of junk littering the floor. In a split-second decision, Andie grabbed a blue backpack off the floor, tossed it over her shoulder and then started to climb up the peeling, disintegrated wall at the far side of the room, using broken bits of the wall and trash that had fallen through for leverage.

After twice nearly falling back in when the trash heaps shifted, she finally made her way out, still hearing the Junk Lady shouting for her to come back behind her. Andie stood straight and took a deep breath once she was free, which was a horrid idea as she was still in a junkyard. She wrinkled her nose and opted to go through the backpack after discarding the bandages around her torso, which had made her climb harder than it had needed to be. As she cut the bandages off with her dagger, she figured that if the Junk Lady actually came after her while she got herself sorted, she could totally take her as long as she didn't have some crazy hidden power she wasn't aware of.

"She would've used it back there," Andie decided aloud before dropping the bandages at her feet and unzipping the bag, looking inside. It was more or less empty apart from a notebook, a pack of pens, a petite drawstring bag, and a dusty costume store flower crown. When Andie touched the crown and a few of the petals fell off, she tossed the whole thing out of the bag to make space, but kept the writing implements because maybe she would need them? She placed the teddybear inside and took a look at the drawstring pouch, which ended up containing little more than plastic gems. She opened it and instead of dumping out the worthless "jewels," she saved them for Hoggle's amusement and just put the cog inside with them, pulling the strings tightly before putting the bag over her shoulders and juggling the scepter back into her hand from where she'd pinned it beneath her arm.

Andie looked over the distance between herself and the Goblin City gates, frowning a bit before deciding she had no choice but to hike through about a mile of trash. She could only hope that there weren't any more traps to be found. She did notice movement here and there and realized soon enough that those movements were from others like the Junk Lady and Andie wondered how many had fallen for her grandmotherly charade and had remained here after failing to get wherever they were going.

She shook off the thoughts; she couldn't think about that. Instead, Andie trudged forward through the junkyard, trying to hurry and get herself as far from this place as she could.

* * *

After trekking through mounds of clutter and muttering that the first thing she was going to do upon her return home was clean her apartment top to bottom—though it was, thankfully, not even close to resembling this ridiculous place—Andie stepped off the last heap, almost tottering when the ground _didn't_ move beneath her weight. Regaining her balance, she adjusted the backpack on her shoulders and lightly tapped the end of the scepter against her leg as she walked, an absent-minded action that somehow helped her focus.

Andie moved past the gates she'd seen her comrades disappear through, scrutinizing at the crumbled city before her. Some of the damage looked like the rest of the Labyrinth's state of disarray, but some of the houses and walls looked like they'd been hit with things, small circular craters that could have been from cannonballs decorating the sand-colored stone. As she walked deeper into the city, she started to call out names, giving up on searching for them when they may be long gone. "Jareth? Hoggle? Nyle? Anybody?"

She frowned as she reached what was likely the center of the Goblin City and inhaled deeply to try one more time when an unpleasantly familiar, grating voice intercepted hers. "Well, well, look who it is!" crowed the goblin from the wall, sitting on a nearby stoop.

"Piss off," she muttered in its general direction, starting to walk again.

"No chance of you getting out of here this time, you know," it said smugly.

"Whatever, leave me alone."

"Ready?" She turned to say something more colorful when it shouted, " _Now_!" Suddenly armored goblins were coming at her this way and that with all manners of weapons including swords too big for them to comfortably handle, tiny cannons, and weird toothy monsters on sticks. _Shit_ , she thought to herself as she backed away from the oncoming hoards, soon finding herself surrounded and opting to take higher ground by standing atop the well at the middle of the courtyard.

"What the hell do you want from me?!" she demanded, wielding the scepter before her as a clear threat.

"Get her! Charge!" the goblins all squealed in a collaboration of noise as they ambushed her. When she heard one of them in the back yell, "Fire!" she had the good sense to look up just in time to wield the scepter like a bat and swing, knocking away the cannonball flying toward her, its legs flailing as it sailed back toward its source. She was haphazardly knocking the goblins back, fending them off until a massive boulder tumbled through the courtyard, sending a good two thirds of the goblins toppling under or away from its mass.

Andie looked over toward where the boulder had come from and saw that her traveling party had come back and were fighting off the goblins hellbent on attacking her, likely as payback for the last time she'd nearly been carried off by them and had escaped. But, really, who knew the motives of goblins?

As she was looking over toward her friends, one of the goblins jumped her, nearly knocking them both back into the well. However, Andie grabbed the wrought iron arch over the well opening and hung on, smacking the goblin with the scepter until it slipped off of her and dazedly fell down the hole with a splash. She kicked her legs and swung herself back onto the edge of the well, stepping down now that she was able to with Didymus and Leona leading the fight against the goblins, Nyle and Jareth more or less helping for their own amusement as Ludo continued to manipulate the rocks and Hoggle, well, hid nearby. A goblin sneaking up behind Jareth caught her eye and she shouted at him before tossing the scepter toward him, which he caught before finally getting the hint and turning around to face the mutinous creature behind him, who quickly cowered under his king's wrath.

Soon enough, the courtyard had cleared and they were all left in the dusty city, scuffed and newly exhausted. "I can't believe you're alive," Nyle finally noted after a long silence amongst them. "What happened?"

"Uh, I fell… Ended up in the castle… Went through another void when I couldn't find a different way out," Andie said as she caught her breath from the unexpected brawl. "And then I hiked through a junkyard to get here when I saw you guys come through the gates."

"I thought I heard something," Didymus huffed and she guessed he'd attested to that and the others hadn't believed him or something to that effect. "Forgive us, my lady."

"It's okay, I'm just glad it all worked out," Andie said honestly. "What brought you all here?"

"A poor navigator," Nyle said, squinting toward Didymus. "But it wasn't all for naught. We were able to climb up one of the houses and spotted the Wiseman's usual post just a few turns over. Incidentally, being up there was how we saw you, too."

"Glad for it," Andie admitted. "Thanks."

"Any time," Hoggle said firmly and Andie didn't have the heart to point out that he hadn't done a damn thing. "So, should we get going?"

They all agreed to head out and at least get part of the way there before resting up as per usual in one of the pathways. Andie took a moment to get the pouch from her backpack as they walked and got the cogs from Hoggle to keep with the one she'd found, giving him the plastic gems and laughing at the gleam they put in his eyes as he added them to his collection. It occurred to her that the only one who hadn't said a word to her yet was Jareth when she looked over to see him staring at the open bag and the bear inside. He spun the scepter between his fingers and Andie took that as a good diversion. "I found that in the castle when I was looking for a way out. Figured you might want it."

"I can't do much with it without magic, I'm afraid," he said bluntly. "But thank you."

"Sure," she murmured, walking along behind the others and dropping the conversation.

A long few moments stretched in silence between the two of them until Jareth finally sighed. "I daresay I owe you an apology."

"For what?"

He looked almost scandalized. "Are you joking?"

"No, I'm confused, actually."

"Back in the jungle. I asked you to trust me."

"…Yes?" Andie said uncertainly, her tone urging him to expand on that.

"I failed you. And, for that, I am truly sorry." He frowned faintly. "You placed your trust in me and it could have killed you."

"Could have. Didn't," she said, a bit uncomfortable. "Look, it's all right. It wasn't your fault that I fell. Okay?"

"It doesn't matter," Jareth sighed, looking ahead instead of directly at her, which was unusual for him. "I could have… You were nearly lost and it would have been on my hands. Regardless of whose fault it was, the result would have been devastating. Fair enough?"

"Fair enough," Andie said quietly. What did he mean by that?

"Though I do wonder what inspired you to take this along," he noted as he twirled the silver scepter.

"I don't know, really. It looked important," she admitted sheepishly as she watched the object move fluidly under his manipulation.

He smirked and she felt relieved when she saw that, thinking maybe things were coasting back toward normal after the odd tension of their reunion. "As considerate as your actions were, your return was much more important."

Andie wasn't sure how to respond to that, so the two walked in silence until the group stopped to rest, as Nyle had declared they were halfway to where they'd seen the Wiseman earlier on and that he would still be there after they had all rested and regained their strength. Jareth yawned widely and looped his arms loosely around Andie's shoulders, leaning his cheek heavily on the side of her head. "Sleep. A grand notion."

"Could you act your age? For two seconds?"

"Where's the fun in that? Be a dear and snuggle."

"You absolute ass, get off me."

After he'd finished laughing at her—which took a good while longer than she would have liked—they found a spot near the maze wall in their normal proximity to one another. Ambrosius and Didymus fell asleep nearby and Andie heard them snoring almost immediately and it was hilariously in unison. She felt Jareth lean his head on her shoulder and allowed it, relaxing and closing her eyes as the rest of the group quieted, themselves.

Andie had just settled in when she felt something suspicious. "I swear to god, if you just licked my ear…"

"Dear girl, I don't know _what_ you're talking about." He mused about her "dirty mind" for a moment more under his breath and when she didn't retaliate, he finally dozed off. Andie looked down at him, at his peaceful features slackened by sleep, and sighed a bit, a faint smile working across her lips as she shook her head and got comfortable without jarring him, soon losing herself to unconsciousness, too.

Across the pathway, Nyle watched them through one half-open eye, calculating again until his features tightened incrementally with resolve and his lid slid the rest of the way closed.


	12. It's Only Forever

When Andie woke, she was warm and her brain was muddled by a dream that had her pumped with equal parts confusion and anxiety, though it seemed that as soon as she took the time to assess her reality—as unrealistic as it was—she was able to push whatever nightmare she'd been burdened with aside. She winced the sleep from her eyes and glanced down to see that Jareth had fallen asleep with his head on her lap, his features lax as he slept soundly, half-curled in a fetal position. _That can't be comfortable…_ , she thought, but then again, how was sitting up against a stone wall any more comfortable?

"He's not going to let you leave, you know."

Andie thought she was going to have her real first heart attack when that statement sounded from directly beside her and she whirled to see Nyle sitting on her other side that Jareth wasn't occupying. He shifted a little when she jolted, but remained asleep against her. "Wh-What? What are you—"

Nyle looked toward her darkly as Didymus and Ambrosius snored nearby. A patch of night sky had fallen over their location and the shadows seemed greedy and tall around them. "You heard me. I just thought you should know."

"But that's what we're doing, he's helping… That's the whole point of—"

"Is it?" Nyle wondered. "Is really what we're doing anymore about you?" When she hesitated before immediately answering, he added, "Or has it become about him?"

"We're going to see the Wiseman to ask him how I can get home," Andie pointed out, awake enough now to hold her own in their apparent first-thing debate. "Why else would we be going there?"

"Jareth wants back in the place of power here. It's likely that the Wiseman may also know something about repairing this place and, if that happens, time will move forward again and the magic will come back."

"And that's a bad thing? That would make things 'normal' around here again and might provide more ways for me to get back to my world."

"If you think for one second that once he has the means to keep you here, he won't, you are truly a fool." He slanted a yellow glance her way. "Or maybe that's what you're hoping for."

Andie glared at him. "I have to get back. My family needs me."

"Good luck with that," he muttered, slowly getting to his feet and then towering over her and the man sleeping next to her.

Andie wasn't going to say anything in response, but she just couldn't help herself. "What do you mean?"

He sighed and looked over at her as if she were the most pitiful creature he'd ever encountered, which pissed her off immediately. "Look, Andie, even if he didn't want to keep you here out of this weird infatuation or lust, maybe even amusement, he has for you, there's a strong possibility that he knows who you are." Andie lost whatever smart remark she was going to throw back at him and could almost feel it dissolve on her tongue. "Your mother brought his world crashing down around his ears and dethroned him in a matter of speaking. It's probable that he's buddying up to you now so you help him long enough for him to get his power back. Goblins hold grudges. There's a reason he's our king."

Andie glanced down to make sure Jareth was still asleep before replying dubiously, "You're trying to say he's planning on killing me as an act of revenge against what my mom did?"

"You'd be lucky if he killed you," Nyle murmured. "Most things aren't that easy."

"If you're trying to scare me, you're going to have to figure out a new plan."

He gave a devil-may-care lift of his shoulders. "I don't know if 'scare' is the right word. But I am warning you. Forgiveness isn't in his blood and after so long to think of what he might do, given the chance for vengeance… If it were me, I would jump at the opportunity"

"Except you two are nothing alike."

Nyle cracked a faint smile. "I hope you're right. For your sake. Though, the chances of you knowing that after such a short time here are slim to say the least. I genuinely hope you're right though. Just do yourself a favor and don't completely disregard what I've told you."

Andie scoffed quietly. "Fine."

"Good," Nyle said with a small sigh of relief, heading over to start a small fire after Hoggle woke and complained of the chill, as the temperature had dropped significantly with the change of atmosphere.

Andie warily watched him go until she felt Jareth move around, prompting her to look down. Mismatched eyes met her own, unfocused from the exit of a deep sleep, it seemed. His hair was comically askew and she unthinkingly reached over and fixed it, only to have her hand snared lightly by the awakening Goblin King. "Morning," she murmured, her brow arched at his actions.

"Mm, good morning," he murmured sleepily, toying with her hand and seeming to explore every detail with his fingertips and gaze. "How did you sleep?"

 _Terribly_. "Well. You?"

"Better than I have been," Jareth murmured as he continued his perusal, holding her hand closer toward his face as he breathed in. "Likely thanks to you."

"Think so?"

He smirked. "Indeed. You make a divine pillow."

"Ah, so that's why."

Jareth chuckled and glanced up at her. "Are you disappointed?"

Andie rolled her eyes a little. "I can't be disappointed if I didn't have expectations to begin with."

"No expectations?" he wondered aloud, seeming a bit offended. "Now I'm the one who's disappointed."

"Tough," Andie replied bluntly, drawing another chuckle from her companion until he was interrupted by his stomach growling. Seeming displeased with his physical needs, he glared toward the sound and then sat up, but not before dropping a kiss to the pulse point on her wrist that was so faint, she would have surely missed it had she not been watching him. Jareth stood and sauntered over to where Nyle had just stoked a fire to life, getting into their supplies for some of the food Andie had brought back from the castle.

Andie looked toward him crouched down near the fire before turning her gaze down to where he'd brushed his lips against her wrist, her face feeling warm and her stomach fluttery. _"Goblins hold grudges,_ " she heard Nyle say in her head, frowning as she drew her knees up toward her chest. _"I hope you're right. For your sake._ "

"Here," Jareth said beside her, making her jump. She looked at him and her eyes fell to his extended hand, in which was a shiny red apple and a couple cakes. "Eat."

"Your stomach growled, not mine," she pointed out grumpily, not taking kindly to him ordering her around though it never seemed to dissuade him from doing so again. She turned the apple over in her hand. "Not poison, is it?"

Jareth rolled his eyes as he picked the leaf off the one he held for himself. "You're the one who brought them, you should know." He smirked and began to roll the apple along his palm, switching it over to the back of his hand with just the flick of his wrist. The way it moved at his command was unreal and Andie swore it was an optical illusion of some kind. At least, she would have sworn that were it anyone else doing it. He noticed her mesmerization and smiled, spinning it on one finger before snatching it and taking a bite. "Hurry up and eat, we will be leaving afterward."

Andie was munching on one of the cakes, the buttercream melting against her tongue and waking up her tastebuds. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't shake the wary feeling Nyle had instilled in her because what he'd said held some truth. And even excluding that, it managed to make sense. Just the thought of that made her feel a little sick. However, she pushed away the doubts and focused on eating and taking a sip from the water jug when it came their way. It didn't matter what his motives were, she'd take the help and get out of this insane place and count her blessings that she'd found a way out with the help of everyone in their party. That was really all there was to it… Right?

Andie sighed and soon got a weird feeling she was being watched, glancing over to find Jareth staring at her, chewing on a bite of apple, his face just inches from hers. "Can I help you?"

"Something is wrong," he mumbled around the chewed fruit.

"Clearly," she muttered back as suddenly they were bathed in unfiltered daylight, the sky changing as manically as her moods that day.

"With you, I mean."

"That's rude."

"You know what I mean," Jareth insisted grumpily, but he dropped the subject when he made no progress. No more conversation passed between them until the group packed up and headed through the maze once again, after checking once again that the portion of the maze housing the Wiseman's favorite spot had remained in its proper place. They made great time in getting to the wide courtyard and, once the path opened up into the clearing, Andie saw a very old-looking man with a long white mustache and eyebrows, a bulbous pink nose, and what appeared to be a hat in the shape of an ugly bird. He sat upon what appeared to be a throne of stone books, a small box in his left hand.

"Oh! What have we here?" crowed a high voice and, at first, Andie thought the man had spoken, but she soon noticed that his hat was the one scrutinizing the group, its head swiveling to view them all. In fact, the old man appeared to be half-asleep. "Wake up!" The Wiseman snorted himself awake and blinked blearily at the lot of them, the Hat still speaking. "Who goes? A dwarf—"

"My name is Hoggle!"

"—the forest beast, Sir Didymus, two faces I don't know… Oh! Your Majesty, a pleasure, and… Have we met?"

Andie blinked when the Hat addressed her. "No, we haven't."

"Well, then what is your name, young lady?"

"Andie," she replied, wondering why she was so nervous about speaking to a hat.

The Hat nodded incrementally. "A strange name."

"Who gave you permission to speak?" the Wiseman finally wondered, glancing upward at his very outgoing garment.

"Well, one of us has to and you were sleeping on the job!"

"I am no longer, so if you would just be quiet!"

"All right, all right… _Sheesh_!" the Hat harrumphed.

"Now, what is it that you all wanted?" the Wiseman asked, old soulful eyes peering at them calmly.

Jareth nudged her forward and Andie shot him a look before replying, "Well, I was hoping you could tell me how I might get home. I'm not from here."

"As if _that_ was not obvious!" the Hat shouted shrilly.

"Be quiet!" the Wiseman demanded before looking to Andie. "You wish to leave the Labyrinth and return to your world, yes?"

"Yes," Andie said emphatically, nodding. "Do you know how I can manage that?"

"Normally, that might be a much simpler feat," the Wiseman commented. "However, the absence of magic from this land bars us from much. Once magic has returned to the Labyrinth, perhaps you will find your way to where you need to be."

"How can magic be restored here?" Andie asked and she remembered Nyle's words again, warning her that this was what Jareth wanted from this journey. That he would use that against her. Could he really be so heartless? The warmth he'd shown her in small spurts over their time together argued against that, but—as much as she hated to admit it—Nyle was right. She barely knew him, in the grand scheme of things.

"You must bring order back to time. With time, magic may return. It is the way of all things," the Wiseman explained. "The Girl Who Ate the Peach and Forgot Everything thwarted the natural order of time in this land and it shattered order from here to the stars. You must bring that order back in the same manner."

"But how do I do that? Fix the clock?"

"The clock?" Jareth repeated behind her questioningly. When she turned, she saw equally baffled looks from the rest of her group as well.

"The clock in the throne room of the castle," she elaborated.

"I know which clock…," Jareth sighed impatiently before looking to the Wiseman. "Would that really restore things to how they were?"

"Things can never be exactly as has past, Your Highness," the Hat snapped. "Time rules against such things."

"And for a reason," the Wiseman agreed. "However, it will put things back in motion. To whatever may come next."

"Do these go to the clock?" Andie asked as she dug the drawstring pouch from her bag and picked out the cog she'd snatched from the junkyard, holding it toward the Wiseman.

"Don't give him that!" Hoggle cried in despair, eying the donation box.

"Be quiet!" the Hat shouted at the dwarf, who fell silent apart from periodic muttering, his eyes bulging toward the golden cog as the Wiseman leaned forward to examine it, the hat bending at its large neck to do the same. "Oooh," it murmured, clicking its tongue. "That's it, isn't it?"

"Indeed, it is," the Wiseman agreed. "Have you more of them?"

"Hoggle," Andie requested, holding out her hand for the other cogs. When Hoggle didn't budge, she gave him a pleading look and he soon hobbled over, handing her the other two they'd found in the Bog and with the Fireys in the jungle. She gave him the plastic gems from the pouch as compensation, which mollified him some. Or, at the very least, distracted him while the Wiseman looked over the cogs. "So? Will those fix the clock? And will fixing the clock fix the, er…natural order?"

"You have the majority of the pieces," the Wiseman said.

"And the majority of the information," the Hat added, rolling its tongue.

"And yet there is still more to uncover, which will all become clear when you near the end," the Wiseman finished.

"That was horribly unhelpful," Jareth murmured discouragedly.

"So, there's more? There were gaps for four cogs at the most, where is the fourth?" Andie asked despairingly, so frustrated she felt on the verge of tears. She couldn't waste any more time here, especially now that she was aware of what might be at stake. "This is horrible… How can we still have so far to go?"

"Not far at all, in fact," the Hat supplied gently, looking down at its wearer pointedly.

At Andie's confused glance, the Wiseman nodded and carefully unlatched his donation box, turning over the lid. "Quite often, young lady, it seems like we're not getting anywhere, when in fact…"

"We are," the Hat assured her.

"…we are," the Wiseman finished as he produced the fourth golden cog from inside the box. Her eyes widened, but she was afraid to just reach for it until he gave her a nod of encouragement. Andie took the cog and looked it over before sliding all four of them into the pouch. "We wish you luck. It is time that this broken place has mended."

Andie nodded and gratefully said, "Thank you for all your help," her voice heavy with relief.

The Wiseman inclined his head as the group filed out of the courtyard, old eyes watching them as they disappeared back into the maze. The Hat glanced between the Wiseman and the opening their visitors had left through. "A strange group."

"Indeed."

"A strange girl."

"Very much so."

The Hat looked pensively onward. "And a strange king, too."

The Wiseman looked upward. "How so?"

"He is different. He is not the Goblin King _I_ remember."

"And what does your birdbrain remember?"

The Hat glared a little toward its wearer before replying, "Incompleteness."

"Explain?" the Wiseman requested.

"You're the wise one, _you_ figure it out!" it squawked.

The Wiseman and his hat fell silent with differently pitched _hmph_ 's, enjoying the summer sky that had wandered over to cover their perch.

* * *

While the group headed back through the pathway taken from the Goblin City, Andie packed the pouch back into her bag and noted, "So. Back to the castle, we go, eh?"

"So it would seem," Didymus agreed. "Though, it is only 'back' for you, my lady."

"He's right," Leona murmured, "no one has been back there—except perhaps the goblins—for thousands of years."

"Then it might be news to you all that the entire first floor is collapsed… At least on the outside. The throne room and such still stand, but there's no way in or out of it except, well… Taking a leap of faith like I did."

"Your Highness, might there be another way in?" Didymus wondered hopefully.

"Through the dungeons, perhaps," Jareth and Nyle said at once, glancing at each other narrowly before Jareth continued, "There is an outside entrance down to the tunnels, through the Hall of Mirrors and the dungeons. As long as that stands, it will take us directly to the throne room."

Andie nodded, zipping up the bag and swinging it back to her shoulders. "Then that's what we'll do."


	13. Not Long At All

"Of all times for it to get dark…"

"Not to worry, friend. I shall smell our way!"

"That's it. We're doomed."

Didymus turned to look woundedly toward Leona. "My senses are keen, good lady. Doubt me not." She said nothing in reply as the armored terrier began sniffing, though a glance was exchanged by all in the group except perhaps Ludo, who was watching Didymus with his usual hopeful expression. Meanwhile, the others were looking for something to serve as plan "B."

"How do you not know where the door to your own dungeon is?" Andie wondered under her breath, though her thin discretion was for naught; he heard her all the same. Their usual banter had worn to nothing in just the short trek back from the Wiseman's pavilion and onto the route through the Goblin City to the castle. In just that short time, he appeared older to her, and yet more wired and on edge. Predatory. She didn't know what to make of it, but it unnerved her and Nyle's words kept ghosting about inside her skull.

Jareth shot her a look. "As if I ever personally went down there," he murmured with a quiet scoff. Andie felt her features screw up minutely in response to his tone. _What's the matter with you?_

"Couldn't you, uh, you know, spell us in there?" Hoggle wondered reasonably.

Jareth hesitated but a millisecond before answering, "It's resistant to magic, of course," as if Hoggle were the greatest fool to dare breathe in his direction. Andie wondered why it was still so important for him to keep his lack of power a secret from the others. It wasn't as if it were not pretty apparent that he'd not used magic once during their journey, but she supposed maybe she'd only noticed because she knew of his predicament.

"Found it!" Nyle called—quite far from where Didymus was tracking scents, by the way—and his long fingers wrapped around an iron ring hidden within a wall of what could have easily been Earthly ivy, also obscured further by rubble. It was no wonder it had taken them so long to find it; most of them hadn't even known what to look for.

He tugged and the hatch started to budge, coming free with the next hard pull while the others approached. "Ludo, pull this open, would you?" he requested when he couldn't get the heavy door more than a few inches from the opening. Ludo ambled over and took the ring, grunting as he tugged it open and raised it fully for entrance. The opening was small; too small for the largest of their party to get through.

"Ludo fit?" he asked, lacking his earlier hopefulness as he looked at the hatch.

"Probably not, buddy," Andie sighed with pity, glancing toward Hoggle. "Want to hang back with him?"

"Oh, well, I… Sure," Hoggle said, seeming to wonder at his luck and obviously relieved to be left out of potential danger for once. "Well… Will you be all right?"

His concern made Andie smile. "Sure."

"I will remain with them," Leona volunteered, smirking as she added, "They're a bit useless on their own."

"Now wait just a minute!" Hoggle barked in protest upon hearing that and, while he retaliated to Leona's easy jabs, those continuing on began to climb through the hatch, Didymus leading the way with Ambrosius, who was already shivering with nerves.

Andie watched Nyle climb through and was about to do the same when she heard a familiar rumble. She frowned and looked over her shoulder, first at the ground until her gaze ascended to the dark sky. Where there had been faint wisps of a cloud layer just a short time ago, the condensation thickened and rolled into ominous masses of steely gray and, as the rumble came again, Andie recognized it as thunder. "A storm?"

Jareth followed her gaze toward the brewing tempest, but he didn't seem as concerned as she felt. "So it would seem. All the more reason to hurry along."

Andie gave him a look this time before telling those staying behind to take care and slipping through the hatch, her foot touching the top of a staircase that she could barely make out in the gloomy, muted light moving through the opening. "Keep the hatch up until we get to the bottom, Ludo. Okay?"

"Okay," the red beast replied. "Safe, Andie."

"We will be. Thank you." With that, Andie carefully began to maneuver down the narrow steps, hoping this wasn't another Escher stairway, but having no choice except to see where it took her. She heard Jareth's cautious steps a short way behind her and, the further down she went, the less the light helped. Finally they were in complete darkness and Andie gave up, calling for Ludo to go ahead and shut the hatch. He did so—she heard the metallic clang reverberate through the chamber—and the path they'd already traveled disappeared with the rest of it. "Nyle? Sir Didymus?"

"We're down here, just keep moving!" Nyle assured her and the knowledge that the stairway ended did help. Too bad they sounded really far down. Andie crouched down a little and placed her weight more warily on every step, feeling the solidity of each to reassure herself in her blindness. This worked until the staircase curved and Andie put pressure on what turned out to be the edge of a step and her foot slid free, which was also the moment she discovered that the tunnel structure around their route had ended and it was a steep, immediate drop-off.

She cried out and scrambled, but luckily as she'd been so near the ground already, it was easy to shift her weight and fall on the stairs instead, grappling for purchase so she didn't somersault the rest of the way down. She heard Didymus and Nyle both call up to see if she was all right and she replied that she was fine just as Jareth's boot came down on her hand. " _Ow_!" she shouted, congratulating herself afterward on not calling him some obscene—though creative—name in her brief agony.

Jareth reflexively lifted his foot, but said only, "My apologies."

Andie listened to him continue down the stairs after he'd stepped over her hand, incredulous and edging toward anger. She swallowed that anger, however, and pulled herself back up to walk down the rest of the way, listening to the Goblin King's footsteps for guidance. When she arrived at the foot of the stairs moments later, she felt a furry head bump her hand. "Ambrosius?"

"We shall lead you, my lady," Didymus declared. "As well as we can, for our sight is only somewhat better than yours."

"It's good enough for me," Andie sighed with relief. "Thank you." They took the lead of the group and Nyle and Jareth followed by sound behind them. Just when Andie thought they would be making their entire way in darkness, a painfully faint glow from a great distance etched out the bare minimum of detail in their surroundings. Andie saw traces of stonework and minimal glints of iron bars on either side, but it was all darkness amidst these aspects. Only a concentrated spot of light ahead promised an end. She tried to ignore the rustling from what she assumed were lineups of cells, afraid to imagine forgotten prisoners still living in there. _Or really_ , she thought as she blinked in the blackness, unable to adjust her eyes to the degree of lightlessness, _living in here at all._

* * *

 _"Yar-har, matey! Onto the deck with ye!"_

 _"Aye, Captain!"_ Twelve year-old Jeremy and seven year-old Andie donned pirate hats, plastic hooks, and fabric eyepatches before ascending to Jeremy's top bunk, every treasure-resemblant toy they had stowed up there as they dropped the old white bedsheets down the side, which Sarah had bestowed upon them to use for sails one day. _"What now?"_ Andie asked, flipping up her eyepatch when she started to get a bit of a headache.

 _"Well…_ , _"_ Jeremy murmured, pausing to think. _"We got the treasure. So… We go to land and spend it!"_

 _"Land, ho!"_ Andie cried jubilantly.

 _"Not yet, you say that when you actually get to land_ ," Jeremy told her, breaking character. _"We're not even close!"_

 _"Oh, okay,_ " Andie replied seriously, flipping her patch back down once her head felt better. " _Land, almost!"_

From the hall, Sarah finally lost composure and laughed, blowing her cover. Jeremy and Andie both looked over and grinned to see their mom in her usual happy state. _"Mama, we're pirates!"_

 _"You certainly are_ ," she said, still smiling as she leaned in the doorway and watched them continue their sailing. _"Did you find some treasure?"_

 _"We sure did! A whole lot of it!_ " Andie said enthusiastically.

 _"Ooh, you're_ professional _pirates then!_ " Sarah commented with an impressed tone to her voice.

The two chattered happily about being "professionals" until Jeremy suddenly looked forward and pointed. _"Land, ho! Drop anchor, matey!"_

 _"Aye, Captain!"_ Andie replied and dropped Jeremy's plastic dump-truck over the side, to which they'd tied exactly ten found shoestrings—which Sarah would discover later when she went to get shoes to go to the grocery store.

Unfortunately, Andie had neglected to look before dropping anchor and the plastic truck toppled onto Colette's coloring book, which she was marking up on the floor. It didn't do any damage, but it was the ten year-old middle child's last straw for the day. Colette huffed and shoved the truck away, knocking the makeshift rope from Andie's hands so she couldn't haul it back up to the bunk. _"Hey!"_ Andie cried more with disappointment than contempt.

Colette, however, had enough contempt for the both of them. _"That's it! Go play somewhere else, I'm coloring here!"_

 _"Why don't you go color somewhere else…,"_ Jeremy muttered loudly enough for Colette to hear.

 _"Why don't you both just go somewhere else! I hate always getting hit by stuff when you guys are being stupid, I wish—"_

Sarah was across the room in an instant, her hand over a startled Colette's mouth as all the kids fell silent, watching their mom in alarm. _"Mama?"_ Jeremy ventured.

 _"Shh!"_ she whispered and his own hands went to cover his mouth as they all waited, three of them not knowing what for. After a moment passed, Sarah sighed her relief and let her hand drop, freeing Colette who now looked on the verge of surprised tears. _"I'm sorry, sweetie. But remember what I said? Be careful what you wish for and don't wish for anything with consequences. You've got to think really hard before you say something like that, words are very powerful. How would you feel if your brother and sister really disappeared?"_

Colette immediately answered, _"Great."_

 _"How would you feel later?"_

She thought about that a bit more. _"You mean after you and Daddy found out? …Guilty."_

 _"You'd miss them eventually, you know,"_ Sarah scolded her gently, though she tried not to laugh at Colette's doubtful expression.

 _"Yeah… Maybe,"_ she murmured, though, to her credit, she did turn to Andie and Jeremy and added a, _"Sorry."_

 _"It's okay, Cole,"_ Jeremy replied, smiling a little. _"Want to play pirates?"_

 _"Can I be a princess?"_ Colette hedged.

Jeremy was about to refuse that counteroffer, but a glance at Andie—who was silently urging him to just take the deal—changed his mind. _"Okay. You can be our hostage!"_

 _"Can hostages wear a crown?"_

 _"Sure!"_

 _"Hey… Where_ is _my crown?"_

Jeremy glanced behind them at their treasure trove in the bunk, on top of which sat a gold and pink costume tiara. " _Um…_ "

" _MOM!_ "

* * *

"Andie."

The young woman in question blinked and realized she'd entirely zoned out during their walk toward the literal light at the end of the tunnel, though she couldn't remember what she'd apparently been so focused upon. When she came back to reality, she realized they were nearing the exit and the glow suddenly made more sense to her; the next portion of the passage was entirely encased by mirror panes reflecting light back and forth all the way down from the surface. When she looked over at Jareth questioningly, he explained, "It's to throw off intruders. Confuse them and lead them astray."

"I don't suppose you know the way through… Do you?"

His eyes narrowed on her. "Have you any idea how long I have lived in this castle? Instead of questioning why I haven't every detail of my kingdom engrained into my skull after thousands of years, why don't you work on finding answers, yourself?"

"Fine, what am I supposed to find in all this?" she demanded as they reached the next tunnel and were faced with three parting passages of jagged, glassy walls, all reflecting each of them along with one another and creating endless continuums of reflective vacancy.

"But, seriously, which way do we go?" Nyle interjected after a moment of tense silence passed. Jareth threw his hands up in place of an answer and Didymus offered to sniff their way, but was met with little enthusiasm. Even if his senses had been as keen as he described, it was unlikely that there was anything to smell down there. "Well, someone pick a direction."

"Why don't you pick a direction if you are in such haste," Jareth snapped.

"Because I'd rather it not be my fault when we get lost."

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm going this way," Andie muttered as she headed down the tunnel to the left and the brightest of the three.

"What makes you think it's that way?" Nyle asked.

"There's no light source down here, this light has to be reflecting from the surface," Andie replied as she walked down the tunnel, avoiding the occasional glass spike jutting from the wall. What an awful, treacherous place this was. She felt like she had at the beginning of this strange quest, unnerved and confused, despite knowing much more now than she had before and having a solid purpose. She heard the cogs clattering gently in her backpack and listened to the others traveling along behind her, occasionally exchanging a few words. _This isn't so bad… Just staying on the path is enough to keep on track. We'll be out of here in no time._

She tried her best to keep her eyes on the ground, namely because looking at the walls was horribly disorienting. When they came to the next fork in the path, Jareth chose the way and took the lead for a time, seeming more than unsettled at still being in the tunnels, though he had to know how long they were. Andie, Nyle, and Didymus all took care to just stay out of his way, none of them really understanding what was going on to make him so edgy. It was when they passed a very distinctive looking spear of glass branching from the ceiling and came to what appeared to be the same fork in the pathway again that things turned for the worse.

"Maybe I should've stayed in front," Andie commented with a bit of dismal humor, not meaning anything by it; in fact, she'd hardly thought her words through before letting them slip free. The comment earned a dark glare from Jareth, whose hands had already been balled into fists upon finding their route to be repeating and finding that her words only soured his mood further. She caught the look and arched a brow at him. "What? I was kidding."

"Of course you were," he grumbled, drawing out his words with sarcasm and what sounded like spite. "And I'm sure you truly _don't_ think you could guide us better."

"What is your problem, Jareth?" Andie finally demanded as they stood between the two tunnels. "You've been acting like an ass since we left the Wiseman, either explain what's wrong or knock it off."

"Would that make it _easier_ for you?" he snapped. "Poor little thing, so inconvenienced by another's state of being, poor _you_. As if this ordeal has not been made a cakewalk for you by the aid of your friends and myself."

Andie retaliated immediately. " _Easy_? You think this has been easy?! And what about you, you've tagged along the entire way in need of help!"

"To the contrary, I've 'tagged along' because it is convenient. Amusing, even. And, despite my better judgment, I felt sorry for you. It has served me well thus far, but now that it draws toward a close, I could not be more content," he sneered. "To think you thought I would need you? That is an endearing error, I must say."

Andie faltered and scrambled for words. "That's… That's not fair…"

Something changed in his eyes and the chill was nearly tangible. "I wonder what your basis for comparison is," he murmured coldly as he turned to walk down the path they'd not taken before.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Andie shouted at his back and, when he did not turn, she hurried forward to catch up with him. _Oh,_ she could have steamed from simple rage! She reached for his arm. "I'm not through with you, dammit!"

He jerked his arm from her grasp and whirled on her, causing her to jerk to a stop. "Well, I am through with you, little girl!" he shouted in her face, startling them both. After he spoke, his eyes seemed to clear and he realized what he'd done. "Andie—"

But Andie was already past him and moving swiftly through the tunnel, all in an effort to avoid further confrontation and hide the tears that had sprung from her eyes. Jareth hung back after that and Nyle and Didymus moved to catch up with Andie. Didymus moved on ahead with Ambrosius to give sniffing a try while Nyle sauntered alongside the human girl, not looking at her or speaking to her while she composed herself. _He knows_ , she thought after she'd had time to process what had just occurred. _The only explanations are either that he knows who I am—he looked right through me, he wasn't looking at_ me _—or that he hates me. That he was pretending until it was no longer convenient for him._ She wiped at her eyes sullenly. _Perhaps, both. But why am I crying?_

It actually angered her that she was crying, just like the "little girl" he accused her of being. She kept herself together, she didn't _cry_. The last time she'd cried had been after she'd realized her mother had the onset symptoms of Parkinson's and that had been months ago. Before that, she was sure, it had been over an ex. And that had been a long, _long_ time ago, were that the case. She felt like a fool. He absolutely knew that Sarah was her mother and he hated her for it; there was such an icy look in his eyes when he'd turned to look at her, she now knew that he'd known all along. He'd been biding his time. And Nyle was right, as soon as he had the means to keep her there, he wouldn't let her go. And she didn't want to find out what brand of revenge had been fermenting in his mind throughout the course of their journey, while she'd assumed friendship, assumed compassion, assumed—

No. She couldn't think like that. Not now.

Andie turned her head just enough to scout out where Jareth was and, deeming him far enough behind to be unable to hear her, she turned her gaze forward again and murmured, "What do I have to do?"

Nyle glanced down at her with just his eyes, still facing the tunnel as she was. "Pardon?"

"You said he wouldn't let me go," Andie uttered quietly, her voice near a monotone from the intensity of her focus on keeping her stone-faced composure. "So, what do I have to do?"

Nyle contemplated her momentarily before replying darkly, "I'm afraid you'll have to kill him."


	14. Eyes So Cruel

As I've forgotten to again and again in previous chapters, I'm going to (finally) take care of some business here. That business is to thank everyone who has favorited and/or followed this story, particularly those who have left such shining reviews. I get giddy every time I get an email that another review has been posted to my stories and I'm so glad to have such positive feedback from you guys. Thanks so much for your support, I hope you continue to enjoy where Jareth and Andie's story goes and I also hope to not cause any riots with the amount of cliffhangers I keep throwing your way (sorry, not sorry). Much love from me to you, thank you one more time. xo

* * *

Andie's features tightened with horror. "I can't kill anyone."

Nyle shrugged. "I can hardly imagine you will have much choice, given the circumstances. If you wish to save yourself, that is."

"Elaborate."

"Considering you get your opportunity before the clock is fixed—and the clock _will_ be fixed—and magic and time returning put him back to full power, any act that did not completely incapacitate him would result in more deeply fueled rage and little else. He would just try harder, despite his kingdom not yet what it was."

"And if my opportunity wouldn't come until after?" she asked warily. "Hypothetically speaking."

He shook his head solemnly. "I'm not sure that there would be an opportunity after. At full ability…" Nyle paused and weighed his words. "He is more than formidable. With what you have at your disposal, you wouldn't stand a chance."

She clenched her jaw faintly and murmured tonelessly, "And you're sure it's the only way?"

"To my knowledge, yes. Though, I advise you not to feel too terribly about it," Nyle reasoned. "You would only be doing to him what he will do to you if you don't."

"If that was supposed to help, it didn't," Andie murmured.

"The truth rarely helps. At least, in obvious ways. Just don't let your chance slip through your fingers if you are unprepared to face the consequences."

"Got it," she replied to get him to stop talking about it, feeling sick to her stomach. Nyle seemed to notice this and quit the subject entirely, continuing on their way in silence. He eventually left her to her own company when he fell back to retrieve Didymus and Ambrosius from wherever they'd wandered off to in pursuit of a scent trail and she heard him calling after the two and receiving snarky remarks—and barks—from both whenever their skills were questioned. She noticed that the sounds faded in volume after some time, but only thought to turn when she didn't hear them at all. Jareth was still back there, but the others were gone. "Um… Where'd everyone go?"

Jareth glanced up as if jarred from deep thought before looking over his shoulder as well. "I've not the slightest idea."

"Should we go back and look for them?" she asked uncertainly.

His lips thinned into a tight line before he allowed, "Call for them first. This place is designed to throw those inside off course… That may be what happened."

"That easily?"

"It's very possible." Jareth glanced ahead. "I simply hope it was not us that turned astray."

Andie sighed. "I should've been sketching a map or something."

"It would not have helped," Jareth reasoned. "Just like the Labyrinth, these halls have all manners of turns and deceptions."

"Of course they do," she said dismally before calling for their colleagues. "Nyle! Sir Didymus? Ambrosius!"

"You're calling the dog?" he asked dubiously.

"Dogs have great hearing, it was worth a shot…"

He stared at her before nodding once. "Fair enough." They both listened and heard nothing in response, and after a moment, Jareth said, "I would personally continue on."

"Of course you would," Andie mumbled.

His eyes narrowed. "Not for the reasons you assume. At least, not this time."

"Then why?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest.

"Because tracking them down here is impossible with what we have now," Jareth sighed. "If we succeed in setting time back in motion and return the magic of this world, finding them will be easy. As is, we will only get ourselves lost if we've not gotten lost already."

"And if we have?" Andie wondered.

He shrugged. "There's nowhere to go but onward."

She looked at him and measured their options before nodding her head. "Okay. Let's go."

Jareth continued to follow along behind her, but at a much shorter distance so it was less likely they'd be separated. Andie kept hearing Nyle's warnings in her head as if they were etched upon a broken record and she was beginning to send herself into a quiet panic. She didn't want to kill anyone, much less hurt anyone, but she also wanted to leave. She had no idea what would happen to her if she stayed after she and Jareth were no longer on a level playing field of power. She had no idea what he was truly capable of. And, on some level, she had no idea what she was capable of, herself.

Her eyes fell to the dagger fastened to her hip, chewing her lower lip nervously. Maybe if she just nicked him, distracted him long enough to get away… But where would she go? How was she to miraculously know the way out of there unless the return of magic sent her away automatically, since she had served her purpose and was no longer needed in the Labyrinth? What if this wasn't her purpose for being here? What if there was no purpose at all, if it was just some disastrous mistake? She had so many uncertainties, but there was only one thing that rang true again and again: she had to be there for her family.

Just when Andie was starting to wonder if they were, indeed, lost within the mirrored tunnels, she heard a boom of thunder and glanced nervously around the cavern, afraid the noise might disturb the numerous glass panes adorning the walls around them. "Sounds like the storm is getting worse…," she murmured dismally before realizing that she'd heard a sound from outside. "Wait a second…"

She looked back at Jareth, who seemed eager with relief as another crash of thunder sounded and they both ran toward the sound before it could fade, using it like a compass. When they reached another hatch that mirrored the one they had first entered through—though this one was split down the middle—Andie felt an enormous amount of stress leave her frame. Andie braced her shoulder against one of the hatch doors and pushed with all her might, just hoping this entrance wasn't buried beneath castle ruin as well. When it began to give a bit, she was encouraged to try harder. "Well?! Help or something!" she snapped when Jareth stood there and watched her progress.

"Ah, quite," he murmured sheepishly before walking over and shoving the door alongside her. The second time they combined strength, they were able to swing the door free, the great iron hatch half falling open with an echoing metallic _boom_. As soon as it did, the storm filtered into the tunnel.

It was in the early stages—it looked as if it had rained while they were navigating the tunnels, the stones of the throne room outside shiny and slick—but the air was charged with electricity and the promise of more to come. She could see the clock exactly as she'd left it across the space, looking eerie and old in the ancient ruins and the dusky light that was the calm before the storm. Everything was much too still.

"Come on," Jareth ordered decidedly as he slipped past her to exit the tunnel, his eyes roving over the decrepit place he'd once called home. How it had fallen after his departure… After _her_ departure. It almost pained him to see how far this place had fallen and to remember how far he'd fallen with it.

Andie followed begrudgingly, her heart pounding furiously within the cage of her ribs as she rushed toward a decision of what she would do. She looked at him while he had his back turned to her, as he peered around his throne room in shambles and looked older to her all over again. He was the strangest, most peculiar man she'd ever met and she was afraid of being destroyed by him. She was a brave individual, near-fearless apart from the things everyone was naturally afraid of. But, in this moment, this one man was everything she'd ever feared because she was quite sure he could break her heart before this was all over.

She'd unconsciously stopped near the center of the pit before the Goblin King's throne, where he'd wandered, his gloved hand roving along the curved backing. She'd sat in that throne briefly while there the last time and she almost smirked at the look that might cross his face had he known. The silver scepter glittered on his hip and caught her eye; she still was not sure what had compelled her to take that with her and give it to him. Fetching like a dog, she supposed spitefully. Her insides felt iced over and shaky and she no longer knew who had better gotten into her head between Jareth, Nyle, and her own uncertainties. Everything they'd shown her—Jareth's wrath and Nyle's predictions—had been amplified by doubt. She felt as if she could break.

"What are you waiting for?" he wondered from the throne as she came back to reality, his voice sounding a bit tight.

Andie glanced at him and hesitated. "I… I don't really know, I suppose," she murmured, swinging the backpack around to get the parts of the clock out, though she still had no idea where the arm was. She figured the clock would at least function without it and they could find it later.

"Did you not hear me?" he asked, leaning forward in his seat.

"I heard you already, I'm fixing the damn clock."

"You clearly didn't hear me because I said to approach me," Jareth retorted calmly, eyes following her closely.

Andie's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"To bow down to your king, of course," Jareth chuckled, leaning back and lazily sprawling in his curved throne like the arrogant monarch he was.

"You're impossible," she muttered as he laughed, wondering what was causing his rampant mood swings. Must be his pompous way of celebrating his soon-return to power and avoid thanking her for her help because she _had_ helped, whether he admitted it or not. He'd still be down in that oubliette if she hadn't, well…fallen into it, but still. He owed her. It seemed as though he had no recognition of that fact, however, and he'd said _her_ king, which meant, even subconsciously, he was predicting her stay. This confirmed her fears and sent a weird chill coupled with a quiet resolve through her frame.

Grumbling to cover up her anxiety, she moved toward the clock beside the throne, looking over the inside to make sure it was as she remembered. Andie dug out the drawstring pouch with the cogs in it and gently dumped them into her hand after loosening the bag, replacing it in the backpack she'd set on the ground. "I feel like I should not be doing it like this," she murmured as she stuck three of the cogs in her pocket and started with the biggest one, carefully wedging it into place. It fit with a _click_ and she reached back into her pocket for the next largest piece.

Jareth watched her progress from his throne, his features passive and unreadable. His gaze only shifted when thunder boomed once more, closer this time. Dark clouds roiled in the sky above the fragmented ceiling, lightning igniting and flooding the throne room with pure light. Andie looked up at the flash, swearing quietly when it started raining on them. Jareth watched as rain soaked down from the openings in the domed roof, wetting the room once more. Water bounced off his leather pants and boots, absorbed into his cotton shirt, and rolled off his vest and gloves. His eyes roved over to Andie, whose shirt was now soaked—not that he minded—and who was now pushing dampened hair out of her face as she continued to try to work in the rain shower, which would soon, he thought, become a downpour.

 _If there were ever a time to strike_ , he thought, _it would be now_.

* * *

Four days prior to that fateful night when the crystal peach had whisked her away into the Kingdom of Whence, into the Underground, Andie had knocked on her parents' front door and waited silently outside for an answer. She'd just come to pick up some fresh vegetables from the garden her dad tended outside and, after a couple of moments of no response, she backed up down the steps to peer around at the garage. Her dad's car was gone, but her mom's was still there… Maybe they'd gone out together.

She walked back up the steps to the door and tried the knob, finding that it didn't give, which confirmed her assumption that her parents had gone out on an errand or something to that effect. She was honestly glad her mom was getting out of the house and let herself hope that what she'd thought she'd seen just a few days ago was just her overly prepared mind jumping to conclusions.

The instance coming to mind was when Andie had been over just a few days before to do laundry and had taken over laundry duty for her parents as well as a thank-you for letting her use their washer and dryer once again. She'd been passing by her parents' bedroom door when she'd heard her mother's voice through the gap from the jamb. She'd paused and listened, making sure Sarah hadn't been calling for her after hearing her go by. " _I need you_ ," came her mother's voice again in a sad, pleading tone. She'd also said something before that, but Andie hadn't been able to make it out, thinking it sounded like a strange "H"-name or something to that effect.

Deciding she must've been talking to her, Andie had gently nudged the door open and was surprised to find her mother sitting at her vanity, staring into her mirror, her fingertips gently brushing the glass. When Andie's eyes fell to Sarah's hands, she'd noticed the faint tremor moving through the limbs and her gaze dipped back up to her mother's fretful face before she said softly, _"Mom?"_

Sarah had startled a little and immediately turned, withdrawing her hands and folding them in her lap as she turned, something she'd been doing more of lately, Andie realized somberly. _"Oh, I'm sorry, sweets. Did you need something?"_

Andie hesitated before playing it off for her benefit. _"Have any laundry to contribute?"_

 _"Oh, no, but thanks for checking. And thanks for taking care of it, I appreciate it,"_ Sarah had replied with one of her gentle smiles, though it lacked its usual brightness. Andie had nodded and hesitated one more moment, which had caught Sarah's attention. _"Are you sure that was what you wanted to ask me?"_

The youngest of Sarah's children had forced a small smile and nodded. _"Yeah. I love you, Mom."_

The smile had been much more genuine that time. _"I love you, too."_

Andie dug into her purse and pulled out her keys, which had somehow worked their way down to the dark abyss that was the bottom of her bag in the couple of minutes after she'd thrown them in there. She slid the correct key into the lock and turned it until the lock popped back and the knob turned; she pushed it open gently and closed it behind her, twirling her keys around her finger since she'd need them in just a moment.

She inhaled deeply of the familiar cinnamon-apple scent wafting through the house and blew out a breath, smiling as she walked to the kitchen and placed the reusable bag she had brought with her on the counter, starting to load the separate plastic bags of produce into it when she could have sworn she heard something.

Her smile faded as she paused in her packing, listening for any other noises to confirm what she'd thought, but when nothing else came, she disregarded her brain's probable trick and continued, only to be distracted by what was definitely a sound a moment later. Thinking of her mother's car in the garage, she inquired, _"Mom? You home?"_

When she heard a whimper from the staircase, she dropped the container of zucchini she'd been holding and ran toward the steps, taking them two at a time until she got to the turn and found her mom sprawled as if her feet had simply given out from under her. Immediately defaulting into her first-aid training, she'd checked her over as carefully as possible, her cell phone pinned between her ear and her shoulder as she spoke to the 911 dispatcher as calmly as possible.

More than anything when she recalled that crucial moment, she remembered the time days before when she'd had an inkling that something might be wrong and she dwelt on the dependent look in her mother's eyes as she'd looked up at Andie from her position on the stairs. Her strong, delightful mother, her rock, looking at her with the very eyes she'd given her and depending on Andie to save her.

* * *

Thunder cracked and lightning split the sky above, rain pelting down as Andie fastened in the second to last gear into the mechanism, having to press it harder than the others to get it to fit into the proper grooves. She heard Jareth climb off his throne to check her progress, she assumed, her mind still muddled with nervousness and the possible outcomes she was faced with from just one choice. She didn't like being backed into a corner with a solely this-or-that decision. She liked lots of options. However, that didn't seem to be the case this time. She wondered if he sensed her unease.

The curve of the roof barely shielded her from the angle of the rain and, though she was still being hit with the countless droplets of moisture, it wasn't as much as she would be standing elsewhere in the room. She stood very close to the clock to minimize the amount of rain that soaked her, still digging in her pocket for the last cog when she felt his hand wrap around her arm and halt her search. _This is it_ , she thought, weak with anxiety as she glanced up and let him turn her to face him.

Andie stared at him silently as he seemed to war with himself, though he—at the very least—didn't seem murderous or even angry. He seemed conflicted at best. "Is something wrong?"

His mismatched eyes leveled with hers and he contemplated her silently, which was when she finally noticed what seemed so off about him; he was wary. As he remained still, she thought on the final cog nestled somewhere in her pocket, thought of what it meant for him and for his kingdom. What it meant for her. It would seal her fate and make it exponentially more difficult for her to leave. The dagger on her hip suddenly felt ten times as heavy.

When he still hadn't spoken, she murmured, "If you're going to—"

"My wish is to be the one to place the sky in your eyes."

Her mind tried to wrap around his odd turn of phrase and she found herself perplexed by the words, at least until she felt his hand drop from her arm only so he could slide off one of his black leather gloves for the first time since she'd met him. _Oh, no_ , she reacted mentally, the rest of her soundless and tense. However, he did the last thing she'd expected him to do in that moment, his hand moving toward her cheek and gently skimming his fingertips over her skin, following the sharp line of her jaw and sending chemical electricity shooting through her frame down to her toes. Her mouth felt dry as he gently smoothed the pad of his thumb against her rain-wetted lower lip. Jareth finally leaned in and brushed his lips against hers with great care, still lightly holding her chin between his thumb and index finger.

The rain forgotten even as it poured amidst the lightning and thunder that managed to send actual tremors through the atmosphere, she hesitated briefly before yielding to the kiss and then returning it at last. Yet, in her hand rested the dagger, drawn from her side after he'd removed his glove, but before his intentions were clear.

 _"He's not going to let you leave, you know."_

Andie's fingers flexed around the weapon's hilt. It hung in her tight grip at her side, and the point began to become more angled at his ribs. Could she do this? _Would_ she? To get back to her family? To her mom? Wouldn't she do anything to be there for her? Couldn't she see through this one ethereal man's facade, his temporary affections, and his pretty words following a cold truth that had come through earlier on?

 _"Well, I am through with you, little girl!"_

He likely was. It would not surprise her if he saw through her and the entirety of what she'd tried to hide. That she was her mother's daughter, there by some random act of happenstance, not by destiny or motive. That she was afraid and knew nothing apart from her mom's stories about what the Labyrinth could become, and Sarah had only seen a portion of its oddities. She had also seen it intact and not as this strange, broken puzzle of a landscape with a rioting sky above proclaimed to be now. She'd found him in the darkness and had been his ticket out. He would not return that favor. She couldn't imagine that he truly cared for her at all. This was a game.

 _"It does not last. Trust me."_

One she couldn't lose.


	15. I Wish

The loud, metallic clatter of the dagger falling against the stone beneath their feet startled them both and Jareth pulled back, looking down to see the weapon still shivering with movement after its fall. His brow creased in confusion until he finally looked to the woman before him, who looked absolutely devastated before she sank to her knees on the wet floor, unable to keep herself steady. Jareth looked between her slumped form and the blade, attempting to process what it could mean. Had she meant to kill him?

He startled a second time when he heard her inhale sharply from below, his eyes moving to her bowed head instantly, soon widening as he realized she was in the throes of holding back sobs. "I can't," she whimpered softly, perplexing him further. "I can't… I just…"

It felt as if icy razor blades scored him from the inside at both her distress and her words. "You cannot, _what_?" he asked warily, uncertain as to whether or not he wanted to know the answer. What couldn't she do? _She cannot love you, you fool._ His features set like stone.

She shook her head and choked out, "I-I can't kill you…"

His eyes narrowed. "Why ever would you want to do that?"

"Because you won't let me go back… You'll keep me here and I need to get back…," she mumbled lamely as she wiped rain and tears from her eyes, finally gaining control over herself. Andie looked up at him pleadingly with bloodshot eyes from the harshness of her crying; the sight wounded him in a way he couldn't explain. "Sarah… Sarah is my mom. She's sick. Please, she—"

"Did I once say that I would hold you prisoner here?" Jareth demanded, on edge from her sudden spike in emotions and the apparent threat on his life he'd really not seen coming.

"No, but…"

"But, what?" he growled.

"You truly are a pathetic little thing, aren't you."

Jareth and Andie's gazes snapped toward the hatch opening, where stood Nyle, alone and darkly mocking. Andie was the first to speak, though her voice shook. "Where's Didymus?"

He slanted a bored glance her way, his eyes like fire when the lightning caught their color. "Still smelling his way out… It wasn't hard to slip away." He looked her over and shook his head. "Look at yourself. On your knees, disarmed, so _weak_. I gave you every ounce of warning you could need and, for what? So you could collapse at the good king's feet and beg for mercy?" He looked nauseated. "You disgust me."

"Warning?" Jareth repeated, the pieces starting to fit. "What have you done, Nyle?"

Nyle scoffed. " _I_ have done nothing, _sire_. At least, not yet."

"What will you gain from this?" Jareth demanded. "Vengeance alone? That is not your way, there is more, isn't there?" Andie wondered the same. Before buying into Nyle's words, she'd gone over in her head again and again what he might have to gain from steering her to stand against Jareth and had come up with nothing except spiteful revenge. That was, in part, why she'd let what he told her weigh so heavily upon her. When Nyle just watched them, his eyes glittering with amusement, and then turned his attention instead to one of the many forgotten goblin weapons littering the floor, Jareth grew angry. " _What is it?_ "

Nyle sighed and shook his head with boredom. "You see, you were sloppy, Jareth. When you demoted me from heir, to jester, to scum beneath your shoe, you forgot that the simple act of demotion is not enough." His yellow glare moved from the blade to Jareth, the glance filled with grim anticipation. "You need to name another heir before the link to me is broken. The monarchy's—even the Labyrinth's—survival thrives on that rule. And, well… If I kill you before—or really even after, though it will prove more difficult—the clock begins its work again, your title, your _power_ , all of it falls to me."

Nyle shifted to reach beneath his tattered leather vest, withdrawing what looked like throwing knives she'd never known he had. He looked at Andie then, _tsk_ -ing quietly. "This could have been much easier had you just had the nerve. He would have never seen it coming. And you may not have also had to die." A reptilian, predatory sneer like the one she'd first seen him wear upon meeting him curved his lips. "Then again, I could always use another slave."

The wind kicked up then, the rainfall completely sideways with the sheer force of it. More stable in her lower position, Andie was only knocked a bit off kilter, but Nyle and Jareth both stumbled, and Nyle took that opportunity to rush at the Goblin King. Andie tried to shout and warn him, but the wind stole her breath and she felt nearly suffocated, bowing her head to try and get the air back into her lungs. One of Nyle's throwing knives hit the stone just inches from her face and she choked on a shriek that died on her lips before ever making a sound.

When she next looked up, Jareth was deflecting Nyle's calculated jabs with the silver scepter, his features drawn in concentration. They forced one another back again and again, moving throughout the throne room, gaining footing on steps or piles of rock in effort to gain advantage over the other, swerving about like cobras in a deadly dance. Where Nyle was aggressive, Jareth was fast and was dodging as elegantly as he seemed to do everything else. The problematic component was the storm, which seemed to be only just getting started.

As if to severely punctuate that prediction, a bolt of lightning shot out of the darkness and split the throne room down the middle, a gaping, but still crossable crevice opening like a maw in its wake. Andie could feel the intense power of the electric shock down to her bones and scrambled uncomfortably away from the damaged stone. _I feel so useless,_ she thought as she looked again past the cloud of debris to Nyle and Jareth. She went over her options and forced herself to be logical about it all, despite everything around her being incredibly illogical at best.

Andie looked down to see what she had at her disposal: the throwing knife that had nearly hit her, the dagger she'd dropped, and whatever else was lying about within the ruins. She only knew basic self-defense and, while they would likely not know that same self-defense here, the longer she watched them go at each other—ever more vicious as desperation set in on both sides—the more she understood that trying to intervene would just get her hurt or worse. She was beginning to grow angry at her lack of options when she realized she did have one more, very promising avenue of response. Andie shifted to her hands and knees and shoved her hand in her pocket with renewed determination, finally coming up with the final cog meant to fit into the clock.

Keeping it in a viselike grip as she moved to stand, she rose with her feet spread apart to stabilize herself as she lurched forward toward the clock. This time, she did yelp as a knife deflected off the edge of the clock and ricocheted toward her face, slicing her forehead in passing before she could duck away. Despite her determination to hold onto the gear, it slid from her wet hands as she recoiled from the pain and bounced shinily along the stones, rolling down toward the crack in the floor until finally spinning into settling against the singed floor. She nearly collapsed with relief after releasing the breath she'd held while watching it, stumbling forward and fighting the high winds to get to it without accidentally knocking it over the edge.

In order to increase her odds, she slowly lowered herself to the floor and army crawled toward the piece, sloshing carefully through the sunken area before the throne, which was slowly draining of the rainwater that had filled it, the liquid seeping through the split stonework.

"Shit," she muttered when her elbow slid, but she soon regained her position and reached out to ever-so carefully pick up the cog, hating that she was moving so slowly, but knowing any rash movements would potentially end in disaster. She'd pictured herself accidentally knocking the gear into where she couldn't retrieve it and that had forced her into a state of calculative motion. Now that she'd gotten it back, she clutched it tightly in her fist and began to push herself upright.

Lightning flooded the throne room with white light after thunder roared overhead and a sharp glint of light caught in her peripheral just before agony erupted in her leg and tore a shuddering gasp from her throat, her palm flexing around the gear until the points sunk into her skin. Andie steeled herself before looking back, having a feeling that she knew what she'd find and—sadly—she was right. One of Nyle's knives had finally hit home and was buried in the back of her right thigh.

She couldn't even find the focus to swear, much less react in general, as she just tried to think through the pain, tried to talk her way around her immediate instincts that kicked in with the rush of adrenaline that followed. Andie gritted her teeth and fought off the urge to reach back and pull out the knife, the basest part of her brain telling her to remove the foreign object causing her so much pain from her person. _Ignore it, ignore it, you'll bleed out faster if you pull it free, just focus and get up_ , she chanted to herself. She thought she might have heard her name somewhere in the speeding winds, but she couldn't be sure. Right now, she just had herself.

Andie took a deep breath and readied herself for the shooting pain as she pushed herself upward and balanced herself awkwardly on her good leg, limping as quickly as she could back to the clock and shoving the cog into place with a final, high-pitched click. She waited an instant and when nothing changed, she started to panic, the faint sounds of clashing metal still reaching her ears despite the howling maelstrom. What hadn't she done? What wasn't right? Did she really need the other hand to make it work? Her thoughts started to race, started to fitfully move from notion to notion in effort to locate the bare strands of an answer, though she came up with nothing.

 _There's an answer, there is_ always _an answer_ , she told herself, but was there? Was there always an answer? In this gargantuan tidal wave of questions she'd begun to surf before even landing in this fairytale place, hadn't she been lacking horribly in answers to sate even one ounce of her confusion? She clutched her head and swiped her hair from her face, swaying a little as she wracked her brain for something, _anything_ to try. Her hand came away bloody when she dropped it from her forehead and her panic began to grow.

Her thoughts kept traveling back to her mother, so she engaged the trail at last and started to go over everything her mom had ever mentioned about this impossible world. She'd been told the story of the Labyrinth her mother had woven—which she'd realized was a combination of the book she'd cherished and her own adventures, as well—a thousand times over and could repeat it in her head by heart.

 _"Once upon a time, in a house much like this one, a young girl of fifteen bemoaned her lot in life. Enraged by her stepmother forcing her to stay home with her baby brother, the girl unthinkingly wished that the Goblin King would arrive and take the child she saw as a burden away. However, the moment her wish came true, regret filled her heart, as she had never meant to lose the youngest member of her household. Yet the Goblin King would not go back on granting her wish and, at her persistence, agreed only to reverse the event should she outwit him and beat his intricate labyrinth in the Kingdom of Whence…"_

Andie ran through the tale in her head, skipping over certain parts and then revisiting them when she drew nothing but blanks. Her eyes fell to Jareth and Nyle across the chasm, both still locked in constant battle with one another, though Jareth's gaze slipped to her in that moment, his eyes searching hers across the distance before he had to return his attention to Nyle, the half-transformed goblin attacking again when he saw the opportunity.

"Dammit," she snapped under her breath in frustration before backtracking and retracing her ideas. In fact, it was the notion of retracing her steps that evoked the theory that entered her thoughts in the next instant. She'd ended up here because of who she was; no matter how many times she'd tried to tell herself otherwise, that it was some mistake, she knew she was fooling herself. In some strange twist of fate, she'd been the one to come here, whether or not the peach had been meant for her mother wasn't the issue. Sarah had undone the Labyrinth and Jareth, himself, and now Andie had to fix what had been broken.

 _"The Girl Who Ate the Peach and Forgot Everything thwarted the natural order of time in this land and it shattered order from here to the stars. You must bring that order back in the same manner,"_ the Wiseman had said. Andie thought of her mother's emphasis on taking great care in what you wished for, now knowing she'd had firsthand experience in such an incident going terribly wrong for her. Perhaps, in order to fix what was broken, Andie needed to work with the elements that had shattered this world in the first place.

 _It all began with a wish…_ , she thought with a sigh, her forehead now shiny with sweat from stress and from trying to ignore the sharp pain lancing through her leg, the adrenaline rush only helping so much. _You're your mother's daughter. Make a wish._ Feeling like an utter fool, she thought over her words and murmured, "I wish—"

Before she could get another word out, the air stilled with ominous suddenness. The rain ceased, the thunder that had become near constant fell abruptly silent. The entirety of this universe suddenly quiet and waiting. In that silence in which even Nyle and Jareth had momentarily frozen to look her way, she found the strength to speak. "I wish for the clock to run and return things as they should be."

Something shifted in the atmosphere and thunder cracked anew as the winds returned full blast, the golden cogs in the clock face shuddering to life and then spinning rampantly, and the single hand upon the mechanism winding in a blur across the thirteen digits and showing no signs of stopping. She stepped back from the clock when it began to go haywire, wincing when she used her injured leg. It gave out from under her and she spilled back onto the stone, the sound of the gears whirring within one another resonating in her ears.

From a short distance off, she heard Nyle laugh. Her gaze shifted to him as he whirled back toward Jareth. "Some amount of good that did, to think your fate, the fate of your kingdom, rests in such a pathetic creature's hands, you must be livid!" he cackled hysterically, his lips stretched wide in a sharp grin as he threw one knife toward the Goblin King and then drew his final two from inside his vest. Jareth looked tense as he dodged around and blocked the attacks, his gaze shifting repeatedly toward the clock as he hoped it would stop and hit whatever it needed to in order to put things right. Andie had set things into motion, but there was still something missing.

Andie's jaw clenched as she saw Nyle dart around Jareth and finally land a cut to his arm. Jareth recoiled and Nyle kicked him onto his back, his expression malicious as he savored the sight of the fallen king. Glaring coldly, a faint sneer still playing at his lips, he stabbed the blades hard through either side of Jareth's vest, just missing his torso and pinning him in such a way that he could not easily free himself. Nyle turned his gaze briefly toward Andie and murmured, "You, girl, are becoming a nuisance. I am through dealing with your interference." His snakelike eyes flashed back to Jareth as he stood slowly and snatched up a stray sword nearby. "And I want _you_ to watch."

Jareth struggled, cursing everything he could think of for his powerlessness to stop the petty, power-hungry halfling as he advanced upon the wounded woman across the chamber. He thought to tell her to run, but as he observed the knife deep in her leg, he knew that was not within her realm of possibility and felt an odd sort of both emotional and physical pain in knowing he could not free himself soon enough to save her.

Andie watched Nyle stalk toward her, taking his time as he had no reason to rush. Her eyes fixed upon the clock, which still worked furiously with no rhyme or reason. She heard Jareth shout from where Nyle had left him, alternating between threats and demands to stay away from her. Nothing slowed Nyle's progress and he'd just begun to step over the crevice in the floor.

She swallowed hard and knew she'd have to defend herself, scrambling forward to retrieve her dagger for whatever use it would be to her in her state. The moment her fingertips brushed the hilt, the dagger sparkled briefly before emitting a white glow—the same white glow it had radiated while changing from the decorative glass peach into the dagger upon her arrival. She carefully picked up the dagger while it remained obscured by the light and it felt warm in her hand and remembered ; when the light faded, what was left behind was an intricate, long arm of wrought iron the perfect size for a clock. _"The enchantment upon it would have it take the form of whatever you would need most in the Labyrinth…"_

Using her one last burst of energy on a proverbial leap of faith, she scrambled to her feet and lunged toward the clock, the black clock arm clutched in her hand. " _Stop!_ " Nyle roared, causing Andie to jump and whirl to see where he was, her hand half raised toward the clock face. "Stop right where you are, Andie, and I may not have to flay you from head to toe. Obey me and you may live." When she did not lower her hand, he nearly spit with rage. "I said, _obey me_!"

Andie's eyes narrowed and a very faint smirk touched her lips as she softly declared, "You have no power over me," and slammed the clock arm home onto its axis.

An enormous boom issued from the clock as it struck thirteen all at once, a blast of white light knocking them both away as the hour continued to chime with eardrum-shattering volume. Andie cringed against the noise, her hands over her ears as she squinted against the extreme luminosity. The white noise she heard deep within her head as an aftereffect of the explosive sound began to die away and she regained her hearing while light still flooded the throne room.

The first sound she heard was one of rage and a sharp clap as Nyle surged up from the floor, raising the sword he held high as he lunged and beginning the swing that would bring it down upon her neck. Too late, she saw this, and in realizing that, she froze; had she tried to move out of the way, it would have been in vain. Strangely, her lingering—and probably last—thought as she heard the whiff of the blade cutting through the air above her was that the rain had stopped. The clock's clangs had stopped, too.

Her pulse loud in her ears, she knew that the only thing that would not stop now—not even for her—was time.


	16. The Babe with the Power

First of all, thank you, all of you who reviewed, particularly those who reviewed so enthusiastically (which was probably all of you). Thanks a million for the support and for sharing your thoughts, opinions, and delights. I always have so much fun reading them. Secondly, I've just set up a Labyrinth blog that I'll be posting Labyrinth-whatever to in the future and, if you're interested in checking it out, it's on Tumblr and the URL portion (since any link I put in here will be botched) is "buthowyouturnmyworld." You can also find it under the tag of "jarethxoc" since apparently no one else uses that tag and only my stuff comes up under it. Strange, right? Anyway, thanks again, and if any of you have trouble with locating the blog and want to check it out, contact me via PM and we'll try to work some magic.

At any rate, please enjoy. As always, I'm looking forward to hearing (reading?) your reactions. xo

* * *

The blade's edge was just a breath from the side of her neck when it exploded into dark matter, the block-like pattern of disintegration beginning at the sword's edge and spiraling up through the rest of the weapon, then onto its wielder. Nyle tried to let go of the sword before that happened, but his hands seemed cemented into place by whatever spell disassembled him, his screams of mixed terror, pain, and anger chilling her blood until he was silenced forever, ceasing to exist before her very eyes as the white light from the clock began to gradually fade from the room.

A substance which resembled ash drifted down toward the wet floor, as it was all that was left of the half-formed goblin man. Andie's eyes only moved from the minimal remains when the figure nearby caught her notice; silhouetted by the remaining brightness, hand still raised with what appeared to be blue electricity shivering around his fingertips—the same which had danced throughout the black matter which had consumed their false ally after he had revealed himself as their enemy.

Andie's eyes locked with Jareth's and the fiery glow within the bicolored irises ignited every nerve within her, her adrenaline rush returning as her body transitioned into "fight or flight" mode once more. She'd only begun to scramble back when her body physically gave out from the combination of blood loss, stress, and being sapped of energy in her desperate fight to set time back in motion, collapsing unwillingly toward the floor and finding that she had no strength left to flee. She could only listen to the steady footsteps as he slowly, fluidly closed the distance, her eyes sliding shut against her will. Andie heard the faint rustle of cloth as he knelt near her and, in the next moment, she felt surprisingly careful, leather lined fingertips brush her soaked, tangled locks from her face. With the touch, the cut on her forehead closed seamlessly and the blood faded away.

"Look," she heard him urge her gently. She gave a soft sound of protest and he smirked, though she never saw it. "Clever girl, look what you've done."

This time, she forced her eyes to open and surveyed the throne room, which was, by some force of magic, putting itself back together. "Did it work?" she asked quietly, watching the entryway rebuild.

"It did," he murmured and Andie finally had the courage to look his way.

He looked completely revitalized from his weary, unhealthy state. His golden hair looked properly teased and tended, what appeared to be an artistic design of eyeshadow and glitter decorated his eyes, his skin was no longer so pale, and instead of the cream poet shirt he'd been wearing with faint stains of dirt and blood along the fabric, his attire had been revamped with new leather pants, perfectly shiny new boots, and a black shirt with a ruffled collar, his necklace that he always wore visible in the vee at the neck. Jareth looked like he felt infinitely better and she couldn't quite explain how that affected her except that she felt at ease. At least as much at ease as she could be with a throwing knife still inches deep in her leg.

Jareth looked at her leg even as she thought this, his lips a thin line of wariness as he regarded the injury. He reached toward the hilt of the blade and Andie quickly murmured, "Wait, don't do that! I'll bleed more if you take it out before I can get it wrapped up."

He looked at her and smirked halfheartedly. "I shall have you recall that the return of time means the return of magic. You will be just fine." Before she could argue any more, Jareth touched the blade and the very solid weapon melted, changing its chemical makeup and developing a seal over her wound that sent a cooling sensation through her throbbing flesh. She let out a soft breath of relief at that, reminding herself that his realm of possibility was much larger now. The thought unnerved her as much as it relieved her.

"What did he tell you?" Andie sighed and when she didn't answer immediately, he continued with, "Were you honestly going to kill me?" His tone was heavily doubtful in his new inquiry.

"Of course not," Andie sighed.

He frowned down at her. "You certainly looked like you might."

"Would anyone in their right mind just up and stab someone for so little reason?"

"I am not so sure about you being in your right mind, but…"

"Be serious," Andie murmured with a soft half-laugh, though it came out more like a gust of breath.

He watched her thoughtfully. "No, _anyone_ wouldn't."

"If anything, if things got threatening or confirmed my fears, I was going to cut you and run. But I didn't think it would come to that." He arched a brow at her and she finally divulged, "Nyle was too pushy with his warnings. If I'd outed him immediately, he would've turned it all around to look like I was the fraud. In looking like I was being overemotional and impulsive, it brought out the impulsiveness in him, too. Weirdly enough, it's basic psychology."

"Then you did all that to expose him?"

"I wasn't sure if it would work," Andie murmured as she finally sat up, amazed at how much better her leg already felt. "I'm just glad it did. As well as it could, anyway."

"Indeed," he murmured quietly.

She glanced his way. "Did you really think I would do something like that?"

"I did not know," he replied honestly. "Your fears were genuine, after all. I could tell that even without my abilities."

"They were, you're right," she replied. "They still are. But I couldn't go to those lengths in order to avoid my fears… I couldn't live with myself."

Jareth pondered her words before remembering what she'd said after their evasion of the snakes beneath the Labyrinth. _"I wouldn't be able to just leave someone behind. If it came down to it, I doubt I would be able to make that choice, even if it was a stupid decision on my part."_ How he could have doubted her made him feel like the fool for once. "You have not yet answered my first question."

"Probably what he knew I didn't want to hear. That I'd be a prisoner here. That I'd be some object for a means of revenge. That—" She paused, catching herself about to admit that Nyle had implied there were no real feelings between them and that had hurt her as much as the rest of it. "That, if I didn't do something, I'd probably end up getting killed, myself." Andie scoffed a little as she observed the transformed bandage around her wound. "In a way, he was right."

"He was not right," Jareth growled softly, startling her. He sighed in attempt to release his anger at the late creature's impudence before rephrasing, "I had no such end in mind for you. The former two had crossed my mind, I will admit that, but I would not think to keep you here against your will."

"You realize how that rivals with your actions thus far, right? Which is why it sounded plausible to me in my weaker moments."

"I do," he acknowledged. "However, if there were ever a learning experience for so many of my poor qualities, it was those thirteen hours Sarah spent navigating my labyrinth."

"Which was also why the revenge thing sounded plausible… Once you found out." She was on edge now that he knew, now that she'd told him both as part of her facade and also in attempt to gauge what her options would be, how he'd react. When he didn't speak, she ventured, "Does it change anything?"

"Does what?"

Her eyes narrowed. "The fact that Sarah's my mom."

Jareth blinked at her before actually laughing in her face. "Oh, darling, you thought I did not know? You simply must give me more credit than that!"

"You never said anything though!" Andie said defensively, her face red. "When did you figure it out?"

"Oh, goodness, there was no 'figuring it out,' you look frighteningly like her," Jareth chuckled, wiping a stray tear from his eye that was a result of laughter. "I knew from the moment I saw you. Not to mention that peach was blood bound. Only Sarah or one of her bloodline could have activated it."

"I feel so stupid," Andie sighed, running a hand through her tangled hair and regretting it immediately.

"Along with that, I did not speak of it because you did not seem to want me to know," Jareth reasoned. " _Some_ of us make it a point not to pry."

Andie wrinkled her nose at him before she asked one of her harder questions. "Okay, this next one is one you can't get mad at me for, okay? I have to know." When he waited for her to ask, she pursed her lips and then asked, "Were you flirting with me so much _because_ I look so much like my mother?"

His brow creased faintly. "You think _that_ was the reason for my advances?"

"I think it's worth asking whether or not it's the case," Andie corrected him. "The reason I'm asking is that I'm not sure and I'd rather know from you than assume."

"No, I have not been fixated upon your resemblance of your mother, Andie," Jareth recited calmly. "You're very different from her, personality-wise."

"My sister is the one who matches her in that respect," Andie reasoned. "At least, she did when she was a teenager."

Jareth grimaced before he could stop himself and Andie couldn't help but laugh. He treaded carefully as he stated, "You mentioned she was sick." It wasn't a question, but Andie could understand his uncertainty in how to approach the subject.

She nodded sadly. "I did."

"Is she dying?" he asked softly.

"No," Andie murmured. "It's just hard for her to do the things she used to. She stays inside a lot now."

Jareth listened to her explanation with a frown and parted his lips to ask more when they both heard cheers from the main entrance, now entirely resurrected and functioning. Hoggle, Leona, and Ludo hurried in and Andie immediately requested that Leona head into the tunnels to find Didymus and Ambrosius, which she did, returning with them not long after.

Jareth glanced back to Andie, his eyes moving toward her leg. With a flick of his wrist, the metamorphosed seal upon her wound began to liquify again and fell off her skin; Andie started to protest that there was no way it was ready to be out of a bandage, but as the substance slipped away, she saw that the wound had smoothed over. In fact, her thigh was entirely back to normal. He smirked at her expression before getting to his feet. Jareth reached down and she took his hands, letting him pull her up and only believing once she cautiously put weight on her right leg that the stab wound was entirely healed.

"Thanks," Andie murmured bemusedly. He had started to walk away to survey his mending castle when she added, "I still have questions, you know."

"As do I," Jareth noted, looking over his shoulder at her, all shimmery kingliness now that he was in his full form again. And, oh, did he know it. _Arrogant as always_ , she observed as he smiled crookedly at being the subject of her gaze. "And now we have nothing but time."

* * *

The castle was the first portion of the vast Labyrinth to be touched by the returning magic. It was not an instant process, not at all, but it was a steady one. When the castle had become whole again and no longer resembled the treacherous, unnavigable ruins they'd first encountered, the group congregated in the throne room, discussed what had occurred with the clock, Nyle, and the dagger, and then gone down to the cellar to eat what they wanted for the first time in longer than any of them cared to remember. After, the lot of them separated to rest or explore while the Labyrinth was reordered as it should have been, all but one in the group finally seeing their home reassembling in its former glory.

That one who was, in this way, unlike the others had separated herself and gone back up the main staircase she'd traveled when she'd first come to the castle, all the way up until she arrived once more at the large window across from the mouth of the corridor. Andie stepped toward it, finding that it was no longer a mess of shattered glass and warped metal, but back in the intricate framework it had been crafted into long before she'd ever arrived. She softly brushed her fingertips over the silver latch at its middle and flipped it free, gently pressing against the panes until the two halves swung out and allowed the now-constant sunlight to spill through the opening unaltered.

Below, she watched the inanimate become animate section by section as the maze pieces reconvened, all seeming to know somehow where they were meant to go. She wondered if it was really that easy to go back to where you belonged. And what if she wasn't sure where that was anymore?

Andie took a deep breath and, without removing her gaze from the Labyrinth far below the window sill, she asked aloud, "What made you lash out at me? Back in the underground tunnels with all the mirrors?"

Behind her, Jareth's brow rose faintly as he continued to move forward, joining her at the window. "You seem to be becoming attuned to me. Even as I tried to be _so_ quiet."

"Quiet doesn't become you," Andie teased lightly, watching as the lush jungle finally rejoined the maze in its proper place after drifting for so long. The voids had begun to close one-by-one.

"Would you believe me if I told you I'd caught on to your plan and was merely playing into what you desired Nyle to see?" Jareth inquired quietly, leaning against the window sill and looking out over his kingdom.

Andie looked over at him, leaning back against wall of the alcove. "No."

He smirked. "I did not think so… Though I do wonder why."

"You asked too many questions about it, though I will admit, it ended up being convenient to carry out the charade," she replied, fighting back a yawn. "Fess up."

His eyes remained on the rearranging stone pathways as he said, "Because you reminded me of your mother."

"I thought you said I was different," Andie pointed out for argument's sake, sitting down on the window sill and draping one leg over the side to hang down outside. She was very stable, but Jareth still watched her movements warily, ready to snatch her back if she started to fall.

"You are. But in that moment, you were…" He chuckled. "Very much alike." At her confused expression, he mimicked her in a higher tone of voice, " _That's not fair!_ She said that more times than I could keep track of while she was moving about the Labyrinth."

"I do _not_ sound like that." Jareth smirked devilishly before his features fell a bit at her next words. "It didn't start then though. You were in an awful mood ever since we left the Wiseman. I thought you would be happy when we found out what needed to be done."

"I daresay I thought I would be, too," Jareth admitted as he turned and sat on the edge of the sill as well, has back toward his kingdom for the first time since its resurrection as he regarded her. He measured her gaze before, in the most uncertain tone she'd ever heard pass his lips, he revealed, "However, once there was an end in sight, I felt strangely uneasy."

"Do you know why?" she wondered, frowning.

 _Because it would be the end of this._ "I am afraid not. Premonition perhaps."

"That doesn't make sense," Andie murmured. "Unless you mean what went down with Nyle?"

 _No._ "Yes. That is likely the case. And what an end, it was."

"You know, if you don't start being more honest with me, I'll be forced to get stingy with my answers, too," Andie said, surprising him a little. "You said you had questions for me, this needs to be a more level playing field."

"I prefer the playing field to be slanted in my favor," Jareth countered as his gaze searched her own. Andie felt stripped by such a scrutinizing look, fighting the urge to fidget uncomfortably.

"I'm very aware of that," Andie said, leaning her head back against the frame of the window. "And I don't care."

He chuckled again and his teeth glittered in the light. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Instead of countering all my questions with unhelpful tidbits and other questions, maybe you could answer them," Andie suggested in falsely honeyed tones, leaning toward him to emphasize her seriousness.

Jareth leaned toward her and, just inches from her face, whispered, "Now, where is the fun in that?"

" _Jareth_ , come on!" Andie griped as he stood up, twirling the silver scepter around as he paced around the hall. Every time the scepter made a loop through the air, it shifted into a different form: first a golden arrow, then an iron clock arm—much bigger than the one Andie's dagger had become, but very much like it in design—and in the third cycle, a riding crop. Andie wasn't quite sure what to make of that one and did well to not let her mind wander too far.

He smirked and sauntered back over to her, kneeling near her side so he was more or less on her level. _A level playing field_ , she noticed, though she didn't speak of it in case he wasn't yet aware of his subconscious actions. "I fully intend to answer your questions, my lady. Though I must insist that you give me time."

"Give yourself time, you've got leagues of it now," Andie quipped.

Jareth's lips quirked, but he remained composed. "I am quite serious, Andie."

Andie looked at him, weighing his words with more purpose. "Time for what?"

"To help you understand my answers," Jareth replied. A smile suddenly began to work at his lips. "One week."

"One _week_?"

"Indeed, I intend to hold a celebratory ball for the whole of the Labyrinth. Except perhaps the Fireys… That could be disastrous," Jareth murmured, his lip curling at the thought.

"I'm sure they will be heartbroken," Andie laughed.

"Everything else on them pops off, I am quite sure they will be fine," Jareth said dismissively, making Andie laugh again. Her laughter sang like bells in his ears. "One week. Stay until then, at the very least."

Andie mulled over his request—and it was a request, not an order for once—and lightly worried the inside of her cheek. "Why?" she asked for what felt like the hundreth time just that day, though so many of those simple inquiries had been made only in her head.

He appeared frustrated for an instant, but his features soon smoothed. "Because my answers to your questions are not yet in my realm of possibility to say or in yours to fully comprehend. Allow me the time to help you to see and indulge me a bit with the party and I will answer all of your questions."

She hesitated. "Promise?"

"On my honor," he said genuinely. When she still looked conflicted, he inquired gently, "Do you hesitate because of your mother?"

"Somewhat, yes." Andie sighed and found herself lightly wringing her hands every so often as she spoke. "I'm just worried about her. I have no way of knowing how she's doing, if her medication is working, how my father is coping…"

Jareth nodded. "Despite how it feels here, it is very likely that the equivalent of only a few moments has passed in your world. Time moves more quickly here."

"Why is that?" Andie asked curiously.

Jareth looked bewildered. "The more abundant presence of magic? Your guess is as good as mine. I did not create this world from scratch. I inherited it and made it my own."

She nodded. "Fair enough." After a lengthy pause, she asked softly, "Just a few minutes, right?"

Jareth nodded back. "If, somehow, I am wrong and things have changed, I will reorder time, myself. You will lose no time with your family." He gently took her hands to keep her from fidgeting further. "One week."

Andie thought it over a few moments more before nodding slowly. "One week."

He smiled his beautifully crooked, ethereal smile and looked down at her hands in his, seeming to consider something new now that their deal had been made. "I must thank you, I believe."

"For?"

"For bringing my kingdom back to itself. For," he paused. "For bringing me back to myself."

She was surprised at his open show of gratitude and tried not to get used to it. "You're welcome. Though I hardly did half the work."

"You did much more than you know, I think," Jareth told her ambiguously.

"Did I?" she wondered, trying to read his eyes even as he kept them turned down from her speculative glances.

He smirked and said nothing more of that, dropping a kiss to the back of her hand before standing and letting her go. "You are quite welcome to the room at the end of the hall," he told her amiably, but couldn't resist adding, "And the bath as well."

"Not all of us can poof back into perfect hygiene, jerk," Andie shot back self-consciously, causing the Goblin King to laugh mirthfully, the sound echoing through the long hall.

Later on, after they'd parted ways for the time being so she could bathe and rest, Andie sank into a freshly filled tub, the water warm and soothing as it was refreshing. As she soaked the dried blood and dirt from her skin, gently scrubbing herself back to cleanliness and washing her hair with the fragrant, floral soaps she'd found, she pondered Jareth's words and his demeanor, wondering what he could be planning. Her guard had dropped for the most part, as he did not treat her as if she were anything less than a happy guest and he'd said, himself, that he did not intend to keep her here against her will. And she'd noticed that he did not make a habit of lying.

Andie rinsed her hair and let it fall wetly over her shoulder, its luster returned with the magic simple soap and water held. _One week_ , she thought to herself and her heart gave a faint flutter at the thought. No foreseen dangers, no strenuous walking for hours on end, no painful hunger and thirst, no frustration at getting turned around in stone pathways that never quite seemed what they were, and no double-crossers eying her every move.

She'd played up the anxiety she'd felt and kept on her toes to keep Nyle nicely deceived easily since the morning he'd come toward her with those seeds of doubt. She'd only had to emphasize what he meant to instill in her and, at times, she'd really been feeling. He'd anticipated the outlandish emotions to take over and for her to act fitfully and impulsively, perhaps because her teenage mother in the throes of hormonal sabotage had acted just that way. That had been his reference point and she'd used that. It had all worked out in the end, she supposed, though his end still haunted her thoughts.

Andie removed herself from the tub and dried off, dreading putting her dirty clothes back on after she felt squeaky clean for the first time in what felt like a week. When she exited the bathroom connected to the chamber Jareth had directed her to—which was a grand mingling of crystal and silver decor, plush white furnishings and bed dressings, and a pearly white fur throw folded neatly by the pillows, a grand window like the one in the hall at the window opposite the door that spilled gleaming sunlight over it all and lit it up like a chandelier—she saw an opalescent trunk near the foot of the bed.

She first looked around suspiciously, half-expecting Jareth to be sitting nearby and waiting for a free show, but when she found she was alone and everything else was just as she'd left it, Andie approached the trunk and deftly unlatched the lock, tipping the lid back and finding it filled entirely with clothes of all kinds. As she was picking something out, she noted that her own clothes were clean and neatly folded in the armchair by the window, the blue backpack with Lancelot and the other trinkets sitting beside them.

Discarding her towel and beginning to dress, she shook her head a little, trying to keep the smile from her face. _I should have seen this coming. The sneaky bastard is trying to win me over_.

And despite her former confidence, Andie had a feeling that _this_ would, in fact, be the most dangerous challenge she'd yet to face in the mystical expanse of the Labyrinth.


	17. Within You

Fluff for days, guys. This is for all the intensity, angst, and cliffhangers. Enjoy. xo

* * *

Andie didn't feel quite as she'd thought she ought to when she woke up the day of the ball. She had expected to feel relieved that she would get some answers, maybe irritated by having to attend a party as large as Jareth had led her to believe, but definitely sure of what she would be doing after its end. That had always been wishing to go home; it had even come up after she and Jareth had spoken again the evening that the Labyrinth reassembled.

* * *

After getting dressed and passing the day with her colleagues that first day that the Labyrinth was on the mend, none of them had quite known what to do. After being involved with the chaotic disarray of their broken home for so long, Hoggle and the others were almost in disbelief that things were finally fixed. Jareth experienced instances of that as well, though he was more pleased than any of them that everything was seemingly back to the way it should have been and took every opportunity to flex his abilities. However, whether that was to show off or to make sure everything still worked properly.

By the time they all turned in early for the night, Andie had decided that it was more for showing off. She couldn't blame him though, she more than likely would have been trying everything out as well if she had been in his situation. When she'd stepped into the bed chamber she would be staying in, Andie had been jarred from her thoughts by the sight of the room. She'd thought that she had seen it in its full glory earlier while the sun was high in the sky and sending beams of gold down to filter through the crystal adornments, but she'd not thought once about the moon. It all looked like something out of a Cinderella tale.

And yet, past that, she was drawn toward the sky. Andie had crossed the room with wide eyes to the window, slipping the latch free and pushing the panes outward so she could see it fully. It was truly amazing, every indigo and navy swirl of its expanse, housing cascades of starlight from the galaxy beyond, lighter violet clouds gently outlining the more clustered areas. Her eyes moved over the brilliant, shimmering white orbs far off in the universe surrounding this unimaginable place and she felt at peace for the first time since the Labyrinth pieces had reconvened.

Yet as soon as she thought about her lessened anxiety in general, the source returned to her mind and she winced at the memory of Nyle's screams and Jareth's expression after she'd dropped the dagger and he'd thought she'd truly meant to kill him. She still had not quite figured out what she'd seen in his eyes, but it had sliced into her more deeply and painfully than any physical blade could have.

Nibbling her lip, Andie had shaken her head in that quiet moment; so much had happened here. She'd never bargained for any of it. She'd bargained for a boring summer outside taking care of her mother and working at a job she hated and then returning to school for a semester of rigorous fall classes before finally graduating and going full-time with said awful job until she found one to mesh with her degree. None of this should have been possible, but it absolutely was. She was far past thinking any of this was a dream. That notion had come and gone within minutes of her arrival.

Andie pursed her lips and listened to the gentle sounds of nighttime outside, just a rustle of a breeze and the shimmer of moonlight in the fountain down in the gardens below. The crystalline features of the room around her glittered and glowed with the light as well, making the whole of it seem alive. Her stomach made a small sound then, breaking the moment, and she looked toward the small clock at the corner of the room. Midnight, it read. Perfect time for revisiting the kitchen.

When her gaze started to move away from the clock, she noticed that the headboard of her bed had a peculiar pattern upon it she wasn't quite sure she'd seen before. It almost looked like…

Her eyes narrowed faintly, but she played it off as being blinded by one of the reflections from the crystals, stretching as she sauntered over to the bed and sat upon it. She slowly turned to sit crossways and facing the headboard, raising her hand and poking it with purpose.

The pattern disappeared as she'd expected and she suddenly heard a mildly perturbed voice behind her observe, _"I am losing my touch, I take it."_

 _"Kind of hard not to notice a rough sketch of a face on a board where it wasn't before,"_ Andie had pointed out, smoothing her hand over the now-plain headboard before turning around. She'd managed to pick just the moment he was sitting down on the edge of the bed next to her, putting their faces in close proximity until she leaned back to look at him. _"You were spying on me?"_ she accused.

He looked minutely offended that either she accused him of peeping or that she'd leaned away from his sudden closeness, but he chose only to address the former. _"I was…not,"_ he finished lamely.

 _"You've got to be able to do better than that,"_ Andie informed him, though she nearly laughed at his grumpy expression.

 _"Oh, hush, I was seeing if you were all right,"_ Jareth groused. _"And considering playing a trick on you if you were…"_

 _"Ah, there's the Goblin King I know."_ Andie sobered a little. _"Why were you seeing if I was okay?"_

He arched one perfect brow at her. _"You think me entirely insensitive?"_

She smirked a little despite her efforts to hide it. _"Not even close. But I thought that I was maybe a bit better at looking composed."_

 _"Not even close,"_ he tossed back at her playfully, resting his chin against his fist as he looked at her. _"What is bothering you? Or should I say what has been bothering you?"_

Andie frowned mildly just before her stomach growled again, causing her to laugh embarrassedly. _"Can we have this talk over a snack?"_

 _"I can call one of the servants to fetch you something,"_ he offered.

She smirked. _"I have legs, I can walk down there, myself."_

 _"It's just as well, I'm afraid,"_ Jareth admitted. _"The goblins have not returned just yet."_

 _"Couldn't you just magic them back?"_ she wondered.

He pondered that. _"Perhaps, though it will be a madhouse once they come. And it is such a peaceful night,"_ he observed with a brief glance toward the open window. _"Though, that does remind me… What did you want to eat?"_

She thought about that. _"Ice cream?"_

Jareth chuckled and the sound was like music to her ears. _"What flavor?"_

Andie realized what he was getting at and grinned slowly. _"Mint chocolate chip."_

The Goblin King—fearsome and limitless as he could be—conjured a bowl of precisely what she requested in a bowl of bone china, handing it to her after the light show of magic was complete. She noticed then that despite his more relaxed state of dress—his jacket gone and a pair of ornate black house slippers replacing his heavy boots—he still had his gloves on. _"Now, are you settled?"_ he wondered, looking at her as she observed his hands and entirely missed the unintentionally affectionate look in his eyes.

 _"Almost,"_ she said as she settled in and tasted the treat. It was better than any ice cream she'd ever had. _Of course it is…_ , she thought with a small smirk as she savored it, blushing when she caught Jareth staring at her lips. Before he could draw too much amusement from her reddened face—which he was already noticing—she asked, _"I was wondering, why do you look so different from the other goblins?"_

He arched a brow. _"Because every goblin you've seen began as a human."_

 _"You weren't human?"_ she asked in surprise.

 _"Do I look like I was human?"_ he chuckled.

 _"None of the goblins look like they were human. In fact, you're the most human-looking of all of them,"_ Andie pointed out. He allowed that, reclining to lie on his side across the bed, his head propped against his arm as he continued to regard her. _"So, what were you? And why didn't you correct me when I asked you if you remembered being human?"_

 _"You asked me if I remembered being selected for my post,"_ he corrected her calmly.

 _"Well, you said you were a goblin. I remember you saying that for certain,"_ she countered solidly.

He smiled at her persistence. _"Because I am. In part."_

 _"What's the other part?"_

 _"_ So _many questions,"_ he chided her. At her sour look, he smirked and, at last, relented. _"I was born of the Fae, dear girl. Raised by the Goblin King before me and then given the throne when I was of age and he fell ill."_

She nodded a little. _"That makes sense."_

 _"I am glad it meets your approval,"_ he drawled in order to provoke her a bit. _"Now will you at last answer my question?"_

Andie rolled her eyes and winced as she got brain freeze before replying, _"Everything just happened so quickly. I just can't get that last standoff when I was trying to fix the clock and you were fighting Nyle out of my head."_

 _"You are bothered by his demise?"_ he asked a bit incredulously.

She worried her lower lip faintly. _"More how it happened than that it happened,"_ she rephrased.

 _"Why?"_ Jareth asked, his expression turning a bit cold. _"He deserved what I gave him."_

 _"It doesn't change that it was somewhat horrific,"_ Andie reasoned quietly. _"I'm not blaming you, if that's what you think. In fact, I also feel sorely about the fact that you truly believed I was going to kill you."_

That earned a look of surprise. _"Oh?"_

 _"Yes,"_ Andie murmured uncomfortably. _"How could you think that of me?"_

 _"I have already told you, your fears were genuine. And not unfounded."_

 _"Even so, I—"_

 _"There is no need to explain yourself, my dear. I hold no grudge,"_ Jareth told her as he sat up. _"In fact, you have my gratitude as much as ever. For reasons I have already divulged to you."_

 _"You said there was more that I did. More I did not know of,"_ Andie pressed, those words having danced around her head for some time since they'd been spoken. _"Will you tell me what it was?"_

 _"You pry,"_ he accused her gently as he slowly sat up from the bed. _"There is much I shall tell you, but—again—not yet."_ Jareth smiled crookedly. _"Instead, I shall thank you again before I take my leave and remind you that your end of our bargain still stands."_

Her brow creased as she set her spoon back into the empty bowl. _"My end?"_

 _"Yes,_ your _end,"_ he'd murmured playfully, snapping his fingers and causing her dishes to disappear into a faint shimmer of light. _"Nothing comes free, not even for me. At least not when I have made a deal which entails that it shall not be free. I owe you a favor. One you may use as you see fit."_ He offered that information willingly enough, but she could tell that, on some level, the vulnerability made him wary. With that being said, he rose and with a graceful flourish of a bow, he had whispered, _"Goodnight."_

* * *

The problem was that Andie was not sure what she wanted anymore.

As she delicately stretched and made no move to rise from the bed, the past few days continued to flow through her mind and she couldn't help but smile. She had been dead set on going home, but now? Now this place was starting to feel curiously like a home. What a dangerous notion.

* * *

She'd explored just about every explorable inch of it the first two full days she was there, though she'd opted not to go down into the underground passages or anything equally ambiguous in safety. It was only on that first day that she stumbled across what looked like a storage room on the top floor, filled to the brink with all manners of _stuff_. Anything from furnishings to clothes to antiques to battle arms to what appeared to be an actual Regency carriage, there were too many objects for her to properly identify in the amount of time she was there. Andie had carefully stepped into the vast chamber and walked along the path that ran through it all, trying to get a look at everything as her curiosity burned bright. She was vaguely reminded of the Junk Lady's affinity for clutter, but this place was different. This wasn't a junkyard, this was a collection.

As she passed the carriage, her attention held to what appeared to be a diagram for palm-reading propped against four huge, heavy-looking tomes stacked atop one another, she paused, her eyes catching on a crystal ball in a small velvet box nearby. She knelt down and looked it over, gently picking the box up off the floor and tilting it a bit to see if it really was just as it seemed, unlike literally everything else she'd encountered in this world. Just as she was ready to touch it, an arrogant voice had said, _"I would not do that if I were you."_

Andie had sworn softly as she nearly dropped the box and its contents, turning to look for the smug Goblin King wherever he may be. It was only when her gaze dipped upward to the driver's seat of the carriage that she saw him, and he was most certainly smug. _"Do you_ want _me to break your things? Is that your goal with attempting to scare me every chance you get?"_

 _"Touchy, my dear,"_ he chuckled. _"I really got you, didn't I?"_

 _"Make sure I don't have glass in my hand next time, maybe,"_ Andie grumbled. _"What is this?"_

Jareth looked at the box and smirked faintly, though it held an edge of sadness. _"Well, turned just that way, it grants particular powers. However, if you turn it just to the right, it will show you your dreams."_

 _"Where did you find such a thing?"_ she'd asked as she observed the crystal ball. _"And why is it collecting dust up here if it's so special?"_

 _"It is of my own creation,"_ Jareth replied, watching her closely from his perch. _"And it was originally meant for Sarah."_

 _"Ah,"_ Andie had murmured awkwardly, not having the intention of opening old wounds. She carefully set the box back down and left it be. _"Sorry."_

 _"What for?"_ he wondered, the riding crop present in his hand again as he observed his station in the coach.

 _"Well, it's obviously up here for a reason,"_ Andie noted as she approached the coach. _"Scoot over."_

 _"Oh, no, my lady, you mustn't sit with the driver!"_ he told her with a false scandalized tone.

 _"I'll sit where I damn well please!"_ she insisted, holding back laughter.

 _"No such luck, in the carriage with you or I_ shall _use this,"_ he continued to tease her, gesturing at her with the crop. _"Or would you—"_

 _"I would not, I_ am _a lady, after all,"_ she bantered back and he laughed, watching her climb into the open-top carriage. She settled into the bench seat behind him and turned to the side so she could see him. _"Where are we heading?"_

 _"Undiscovered territory,"_ he said with an implicative smirk before turning his head to regard her. She noticed again how unearthly his beauty was. _Exquisitely handsome, indeed… What a disaster_ , Andie thought to herself, as she was already drawn to him for his wit and mind. Not to mention these exchanges of playful banter were _so_ addictive. _"It is up here because I had no use for it. And neither did she."_

 _"Could you have gotten some of your power back with it after time stopped?"_

He shook his head. _"All of it stopped. Even it was useless in that time."_

Andie nodded a bit. _"So, you offered her that? In exchange for…"_

 _"What do you think?"_ he countered and they both fell a bit silent in knowing that Andie knew as much of the story as she needed to in order to figure that out. It still embarrassed him some how he'd pleaded with her. He heard himself in his memory— _"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave…"_ —and felt positively ridiculous. What a selfish situation that had been. And yet, those thousands and thousands of years ago, he had meant it. Everything had changed after she'd rejected him, however, in more than just this physical world. He had changed. And then he'd changed again after meeting _her_. Jareth glanced toward Andie and couldn't help but inquire further, _"What caused your mother to fall ill?"_

Andie frowned softly. _"A dopamine deficiency."_ His brow arched and she took the hint. _"It's a chemical in the brain. When there's not enough of it and it's not made in the amounts it should be for a person to function, bad things take place in the body. In her case, it was something called Parkinson's disease."_

 _"Parkinson's disease,"_ Jareth murmured, trying out the term on his tongue. _"I have heard of that some time before."_

 _"With your being alive for thousands of years and back and forth between here and my world, I'm not at all surprised."_

 _"Will it kill her? I know you said she was not dying, yet…"_

 _"It's not a terminal illness, but it is disabling, which can shorten a person's life, yes… So, in a way, it is a possibility."_ Andie ran a hand through her hair and sighed, seeming and feeling distant with the thought of her mother in such a state.

It was the sensation of Jareth taking her hand that brought her back to reality and she looked at him, looked at the unhidden sympathy in his eyes. _"I am truly sorry."_

Andie nodded a little and smiled sadly. _"So am I."_ Jareth looked at her a moment more before leaning in and kissing her forehead, then helping her off the carriage and leaving the storeroom with her to seek brighter scenery.

* * *

When the girl who had revived time and magic in the land of the Labyrinth thought of her uninhabited apartment back in her world, which held only the necessities and no one to share them with, a certain moroseness seeped into her heart. Ever the loner, she'd never felt a need to hold anyone's company but her own. She indulged at times, of course, and she loved her family, but she had never had trouble with being alone. She was starting to wonder if that would hold true once she returned.

* * *

 _"Dear child, you are horrific at riddles,"_ Leona had teased her with a rumbling laugh as she lay within the archway that was her post in the gardens. She'd returned to it the day after the Labyrinth's resurrection and had seemed quite pleased to be back at her job. Andie had made a point of visiting her on the fourth day of her stay to see the sphinx in her natural state, though what she had ended up involving herself in was a game of riddles. One she was certainly not winning.

 _"I've never been faced with a sphinx's prowess at it before. I thought I was good at them until now. Give me another, I'll get the next one,"_ Andie had persisted, readying herself for a new puzzle.

Leona smirked good-naturedly. _"This is the last, child. If you do not solve this one, I daresay you are a lost cause and I shall win."_ The sphinx's tail flicked pleasantly as the breeze brought the floral scents of the garden their way, another beautiful day in what had proved to be a lineup of beautiful days after the storm that had ripped through the broken land.

 _"All right, go,"_ the human woman had requested, lying on her stomach in the grass, her legs bent behind her and crossed comfortably at the ankles.

Leona had squared her stone shoulders before beginning her last riddle and Andie's last shot at redemption after missing two consecutive riddles. _"Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered. Through raven skies and stone torn asunder, I have been your light. Within the heart of the storm and the strength of the stars, it may please you to know you shan't look very far. I have always been within your sight. What am I?"_

Andie blinked and thought over the riddle, let the nuances of it and the pleasant roll of Leona's voice wash over her as she began to consider the meaning. The beginning was simple, it referenced the Labyrinth and its toils. The raven skies were dark of night and the stone torn asunder was likely the pieces of the maze in its shattered state. _I have been your light_ …, Andie repeated in her head. _What was the rest?_

 _"Would you mind repeating it? Without making fun of me, maybe?"_ Andie requested, causing Leona to laugh.

 _"No promises,"_ the sphinx had said playfully. She cleared her throat. _"Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered. Through raven skies and stone torn asunder, I have been your light…"_ As Andie listened, her gaze slipped past Leona toward movement up on the castle wall. It was the balcony; Jareth stood there, in all his kingly, elegant manner, and looked out over his kingdom as she'd often caught him doing. She could not imagine the reassurance he felt from seeing it together and whole again. To feel whole again with his magic restored. _"Within the heart of the storm and the strength of the stars…"_

Andie felt a strange sense of realization as she watched Jareth and listened to Leona's riddle, her eyes widening faintly as she continued to observe the Goblin King survey the land, his gloved hands braced against the edge of the stone balcony. _"It may please you that you shan't look very far…"_

She hadn't had to. He'd been there from close enough to the beginning that she felt as if he'd been there all along. _I have been your light_.

 _"I have always been within your sight. What am I?"_ Leona finished at last, watching Andie curiously.

Andie finally tore her gaze away from the balcony, floundering a bit for words. _"Um…,"_ she mumbled before shaking her head, much too frazzled and embarrassed at her own thoughts to think coherently. _"I think you win with that one, Leona."_ Was she actually hinting at her feelings for Jareth? Was it that obvious? She couldn't admit to that even if that was what the sphinx was getting at, it was too awkward.

 _"Truly? My dear, you must be dense. It was your dagger, of course,"_ Leona chortled, purring with delight at her victory.

 _"That makes perfect sense, how could I have left that out,"_ Andie groaned, shaking her head as she stood up. _"I'll have to brush up on my riddle-solving skills before I come see you again. My pride is slaughtered."_

Leona smirked. _"See that you do. I enjoyed this."_

Andie had smiled back. _"So did I. See you soon!"_ With that, Andie hurried away.

Leona had watched her go and glanced back toward Jareth in the balcony, the smirk on her lips impossible to contain any longer now that Andie had fled. _"Poor girl."_

* * *

Andie closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, bringing the satin covers up toward her chin and bundling into the warmth. No, she was sadly quite sure there would be no going back for her sorry heart. Whether or not she physically returned to her world, however, was a much different matter, as she would not be returning necessarily for her own benefit. Her family needed her. And yet, so did her family here. Meanwhile, she needed them both and that simply could not be.

* * *

On the sixth day, toward the evening, and the day before the ball was planned, the goblins—who had taken their sweet time in their king's opinion—finally arrived back in the castle. Andie was watching Sir Didymus and Ludo playfully joust in the throne room when the cavalry arrived, filtering in through the door as well as they could in their numbers, many piling on top of one another to get inside. She was sitting on Jareth's throne and was removed from the mess as a result, but Ludo, Didymus, and Hoggle were all knocked around by the hideous creatures. Ambrosius sat near her feet, glad to be out of the way, she imagined.

When the commotion became an all-out brawl amongst everyone—there was even friendly fire between the goblins—Jareth arrived on the scene, demanding silence in the hall. Everyone froze, the goblins dropping their weapons before groveling before their king, apologizing for their lateness and their noise. Jareth looked down his nose at them and ordered, "As you were." The goblins scurried back. _"Your truancy has proved quite a nuisance… And you've that much more to do in the short time before tomorrow night. A ball is to be had and the preparations are many. Well? Get on with it!"_

The goblins hurried to their duties, just a few remaining as they stared at Andie in the seat of power. Jareth started to shout at them, but followed their gaze and cocked a golden brow, which he was quite prone to doing in her general direction. Andie blinked at the attention she suddenly had. _"What?"_

Jareth smirked faintly. _"Nothing, Your Highness."_

 _"I just wanted someplace to sit,"_ Andie reasoned as she sat up straight. _"If you want your chair back—"_

 _"No matter, you may stay. It rather suits you,"_ he chuckled. His gaze turned sharp when he turned it upon the goblins. _"What are you lot standing around for?"_

 _"His Majesty has a queen?"_ one of the pudgier goblins wondered in awe. Andie blushed a deep red and Jareth looked taken aback. _"She is most pretty, sire!"_

 _"Yes, well…"_ He had cleared his throat. _"She is not my queen. She is an honored guest."_

 _"But she sits upon the throne!"_ another goblin protested, not believing that she was just a guest.

Jareth smirked toward Andie as he said, _"She sits wherever she damn well pleases."_ Andie grinned and, though he would never admit it, the sight managed to mesmerize him. When the goblins continued to putt around, he said again, _"Do you not have somewhere to be?"_

 _"We are kitchen staff, sire,"_ one objected quietly. _"There be no sense in making the meals an entire day before… Unless you have other demands of us?"_

Jareth paused and glanced around, noting that the whole of the castle in its reborn state was in fairly good condition. It was just a matter of decor for the ballroom and all that. The food would need to be fresh and he supposed it would have to wait in that case. Andie was looking around the room, which was only a bit more heavily furnished now with a few rugs and some extra spaces for decor. _"Maybe a game?"_

Everyone in attendance had perked up at the word. _"What sort of game, ma'am?"_ one of the goblins asked eagerly, the others already stirring with interest.

Andie grinned in anticipation and picked her feet up off the floor before instructing, _"Everyone off the bare floor. Rugs are fine, anything is fine really, just not directly on the stone."_ Everyone—even Jareth after some prodding from his servants—stepped off the stone and awaited further instructions. She smirked as she said, _"The bare stone is now lava. If you step in it, you're out. Go."_

 _"What sort of game is—watch it!"_ Jareth began to berate her, only to be nearly wiped out by Ludo changing location. Andie laughed mirthfully from the throne, not budging one bit and watching the priceless sight before her. Teams formed relatively quickly, Jareth and his goblins trying to get the advantage over Ludo, Didymus, and Hoggle, even as Didymus cried out for Ambrosius to aid him. The sheepdog stayed exactly where he was, playing deaf much to his master's disdain.

Ludo—with his large feet and top-heavy stature—was soon eliminated, though he was not remotely disheartened by the occurrence, and one of the goblins was soon as well. Instead of exiting the game like a fair player, the eliminated goblin hopped on its colleague's shoulders and forced the both of them to topple onto the stone, the both of them making sizzling noises and wailing in faux agony. Jareth and the one remaining goblin shared a rug and watched as Hoggle lost his footing and rolled off a pedestal toward the entryway, causing Didymus to wail at his loss. The goblin saw fit to challenge Didymus and the two began a strange sort of brawl on one of the larger rugs, the entire scenario much resembling a very absurd sumo wrestling match.

In watching the brawl so closely, Andie didn't see Jareth's progress across the room until he had landed upon a small table very near the throne, eying her like a jungle cat. _"Don't you dare,"_ she warned him with a giggle before he smiled and leapt from the endurable, knocking it over before he landed lithely on the back of the throne, stepping down to sit behind her, his legs on either side of her body. _"I think I may have started something serious_ ," she realized as the two pint-sized creatures rolled around on the rug. It was as impressive as it was ridiculous.

 _"I daresay you might have as well,"_ Jareth observed, though he was looking at her as he said it. She realized this from the direction of his voice and looked toward him, their faces inches apart.

Jareth had just begun to lean in to close the distance when Didymus cried out with victory nearby. _"Have I won the challenge, my lady?"_ he asked hopefully after seeing that Jareth's boot was touching the stone.

Andie saw this as well, flustered and a bit miffed at the interruption, though she should have been glad for it. _"You win, Sir Didymus, congratulations."_

As he cheered and celebrated with Hoggle and Ludo, though really he'd not won a thing but bragging rights, Andie felt Jareth's lips skim against the curve of her neck, causing her to shiver. _"I believe I am the true victor of this game,"_ he noted near her ear, chuckling as she remembered to breathe at last.

Six days. Six days and she'd been around him so often and yet something always halted their progress. Interruptions, somber conversations, doubts, whatever seemed appropriate for the moment. She thought this over through dinner and then afterward as well, when she was moving up the stairs to her room. _"Are you quite well?"_ She turned in the stairwell to see Jareth leaning against the wall just behind her, though he'd not been there just seconds ago. _"You hardly touched your meal."_

 _"You keep pretty close tabs on me, Goblin King,"_ she observed as she continued to climb, finally entering the hall. _"And I have to wonder why_. _"_

 _"It surprises me that you still wonder,"_ he noted as he followed her up, walking with her down the corridor like a proper gentleman. Though she had heard once that a gentleman was naught but a patient wolf and she thought he might just fit into that metaphor.

 _"I don't like to assume_ ," she told him, stopping long before they reached her bedchamber. _"And I've not exactly been given the answers I was promised."_

Jareth nodded, his expression unreadable again. _"In time. Sooner than you think, I am sure."_ She nodded a little, her head still full of half-decisions. _"Does it bother you?"_

 _"Not as much as it should, I think,"_ Andie admitted. _"Not as much as some things."_

 _"I can give you a partial answer if that will help."_

 _"It might madden me further,"_ she'd laughed softly. _"But it is worth a try."_

Jareth smiled slowly. _"I very much enjoy your company, my dear. And I endeavor to keep it as close as I am able for as long as I am able."_ He paused, attempting to read her. _"Does that unnerve you?"_

 _"No,"_ Andie said truthfully, watching him and how the moonlight coming through the window made his hair shimmer silver, his one crystal blue eye lit with ethereal brilliance.

Her answer surprised him, she could tell. He slowly stepped closer to her. _"Then how_ does _it make you feel?"_

Andie looked for a word until she realized she would find none to describe exactly what she was feeling. Instead, she looked up at him and stepped forward, and seeing his eyes widen faintly in shock encouraged her further. She rose up to kiss him softly and that was how it began, gently at first, until suddenly their individually passionate hungers surfaced.

Her arms wound around his neck and held her body against his, one of his hands possessively moving to cradle the back of her neck while the other splayed over her lower back, every firm angle of his body melding with hers. In her enthusiasm, she'd unintentionally backed him up against the wall, relishing in the control for only a short moment. A faint sound that bridged the gap between a moan and a growl had issued from Jareth's throat as he kissed her deeply and claimingly before he'd scooped her up with clear intent and made his way back down the hall to his own chambers. She was lost with him now and could not remember ever being handled quite so gently and demandingly at once in the instant that he swiftly shut the door behind them.

* * *

Andie had nearly dozed off again when she felt familiar strong arms tighten anew around her waist, the Goblin King gently nuzzling her neck as he began to wake as well. "Good morning, my dear," he murmured softly against her skin.

"Good morning," she smirked, turning over to cuddle against his side, shifting so her head rested against his chest. He held her close, as if she were something very cherished, and lightly ran his fingers through her hair, looking down at her reverently.

At last, he sighed softly, regarding the sunlight pouring through the window. "I am afraid we have a ball to prepare for," he murmured, though he showed no indication of wanting to get up, particularly when she mumbled a protest and held him more tightly to emphasize her dislike of that notion. "Come along, there is much to do and, not to offend, but I have a feeling you do not know how to dance."

"That would be accurate," Andie sighed as she looked up at him, her hair a gently tousled mess that did risky things to his heart. "However, I don't need to know how to dance as I don't believe I will be dancing."

"It's a ball, love, of course you will be dancing," Jareth informed her firmly.

"Just torture me some more, will you," Andie whined quietly. "Public humiliation is a whole new level."

Jareth chuckled. "I will teach you and you will look as if you've danced for years." He rolled her to lie on top of him so he could look at her more easily, kissing her forehead and then each cheek, ending on the tip of her nose. "You will be just fine. On my honor. Besides that, I cannot imagine you will have experienced a ball quite like this one in your world."

Andie smirked in defeat. "There is a lot here that I've not once come across in my world," she admitted, watching him and the thoughts roving through his eyes. This was the moment that she leaned in to kiss him and they lost themselves in each other, both forgetting about the future for the time being and ultimately making themselves quite late for the day's preparations in spite of Jareth's attempt at being a responsible monarch. As they worked their way down the staircase to join the others, Andie held Jareth's hand, their fingers intertwined as they spoke of what would be involved in the evening's ball, and she found herself wishing silently more than once that this—that they—did not have to end.


	18. New Dreams and Foolish Hearts

Two chapters left after this one, which will serve as some reassurance after you all read how this chapter ends. As always, thank you for the reviews and support. Enjoy some feels. xo By the way, I was listening to "Across the Universe of Time" by Hayley Westenra while writing their dance at the ball and I imagined that song playing for them, so there's that tidbit of info if you're interested.

* * *

"This is bad," Andie grumbled as she tripped over her own feet for the second time since they had started, grimacing at her lack of progress though it had only been twenty minutes.

"You are doing fine. Surprisingly well, in fact," Jareth told her patiently, though she could tell it was taking some forethought for him to be so patient with her. "Just keep trying. And stand up straight."

"Look, I'll perfect the posture after I perfect the steps," she bartered, protesting when he suddenly smirked and tightened his arm around her waist, swinging her off her feet in a graceful spin across the empty throne room pit. The ballroom was teeming with goblins doing who knew what to prepare for the night ahead, so instead of working around them, Jareth had opted to take her elsewhere.

Beside that, he did not need his subjects ogling the two of them as they had over the course of her nearly seven-day stay. He couldn't quite keep his mind off what she might do once her promised week had ended, telling himself time and time again that he already knew the answer—that she would return home—and yet he kept that careful state of "perhaps" in the back of his mind. He stopped spinning her after a couple of turns, but still held her in his arms, gently swaying them both. "You needn't aim for perfect. I simply desire the pleasure of a dance with you."

Andie smiled and leaned her head against his shoulder, letting him lead her slowly from side to side; slow dancing, she knew how to do. "Well, I appreciate you not letting me embarrass myself," she commented, drawing a deep chuckle from her dance partner.

"I do draw the line somewhere," he informed her, smiling when she raised her head from his shoulder to look at him dubiously. He leaned in and stole a kiss before placing one of his hands back in hers. "We will start again. Do you remember the steps?"

Andie hesitated and then gave a brief nod. "I think so. But go slow, okay?"

"Of course," he said, just glad she wasn't giving up, even if she was complaining occasionally and impatient for success. He supposed he might be, too, in her situation. When she appeared ready and straightened her spine, he slowly began the steps for the simple waltz he was teaching her and she followed along, uncertain at first until she gradually grew more confident.

The more sure she became, the more he began to increase the speed of their dance by increments until they were at the customary pace and she was no longer stumbling, though she did look down at her feet every so often. "Look at me, chin up, straight spine," Jareth instructed her calmly and she did just that, smiling as she realized she was finally getting the hang of it. "See? Not so bad…"

"Until I have to do this in heels, I'm assuming," Andie groaned, twirling beneath his arm as he spun her playfully, catching her easily back within his arms. Instead of answering her, Jareth just rolled his eyes and swung her into a dip, plucking her up bridal style and carrying her over to his throne, sitting down and depositing her on his lap as he leaned back. "I can't possibly be an expert," she said in surprise when he seemed as if he was ready to quit after no more than forty-five minutes.

"I am emotionally damaged from your scuffing of my boots, I need a moment to compose myself," he drawled, smirking when she elbowed him in the ribs. He noted a heap of gossamer fabric shuffling through on its own just then, running into a support pillar before muttering and hurrying to the right. While he just looked unamused, Andie appeared bewildered, soon deciding there must have been a goblin under all that shimmery fabric. "We have run out of time at any rate," Jareth added as he glanced toward the high windows above the castle entrance, which burned with dawn's warm embrace.

"Indeed, the decorations are running away," she joked, glancing back at Jareth, who smiled. She did note with some degree of sadness, however, that it did not touch his eyes. Andie looked at him thoughtfully and leaned in, kissing his cheek obnoxiously enough that he recoiled in feigned disdain. "I thought you'd be excited about your _ball_ ," she observed, pronouncing the last word as if it were a curse or an unwanted side dish.

"Excited?" he repeated a bit dismissively. "I am anticipating it, but I would not call myself _excited_."

"Well, get excited," she ordered him, standing up and stretching. "If anything, for the lack of grace that will be me on the dance floor. I know how you love to laugh at me."

Jareth's lips quirked faintly. "Fine. Go on upstairs and get dressed. I will see you soon."

Andie gave up and did as suggested, amazed as she had been every night at the sunset that greeted her from the hall window, brilliant and vibrant and seemingly with a life of its own. She moved quickly down the corridor to her room, pushing the door open and marveling at the colors the crystals threw and the white surfaces reflected from the light filtering through the glass. She smiled and admired the spectra of light as she walked inside, a small sigh of awe easing from her.

"Milady!"

Andie startled backward toward the door at the squeak from the otherwise silent room, glancing around until she finally thought to look down. A pipsqueak of a goblin stood near her feet, peering up at her. Its bulgy eyes seemed childlike and it regarded her curiously while she tried to decide whether or not it was a threat. She couldn't quite get the rampaging side of the goblins she'd seen much earlier in the Labyrinth out of her mind, but they appeared to be much more tame now. Likely trying to win back favor with their king. "Yes?"

"My name is Rem, Your Ladyship!" it added.

"Don't be introducing yourself like that!" another voice squawked nearby. "Address your mistress accordingly, she don't care what your name is!"

Rem looked speechless until the goblin she'd decided was likely female stuttered out, "O-oh, I'm sorry!"

"No, no, it's fine. It's lovely to meet you," Andie quickly intervened. "But… What are you doing in my room?"

"Why, we're here to help you dress!" the other goblin—much fatter and yet squatter than Rem—replied. "Go on, then, shed your clothes and we'll get your dress on!" This also female goblin seemed matronly and Andie had to focus on not laughing in order to avoid hurting the goblin's pride.

Thinking it was better not to argue and also knowing she might need some help, Andie stepped carefully over the two goblins bickering before her, unbuttoning the sky blue shirt she'd worn from the trunk Jareth had presumably left for her during her first day in the castle and beginning to slide it off. She'd been making her way toward the silver trunk to see what it had in the realm of formalwear when her eyes caught on two innocuous white boxes on the end of her bed, nearly blending in with the white comforter.

Frowning, she set the discarded shirt down to investigate, slipping her fingertips beneath the edge of the largest box's lid and lifting it off, pawing through the tissue inside until she got to the contents and her breath caught. Inside was the finest gown she'd ever seen, extravagant film costumes included. Deep, rich navy blue with faint traces of dark violet placed along the skirt, which was composed by layers of the sheer fabric building upon one another like petals on a rose. The bodice and the off-the-shoulder sleeves were the same midnight blue shade, the entirety of the gown riddled with fluctuating volumes of tiny starlike crystals, moving from widely scattered individual stones to clusters of them that mirrored the incredible galaxy she'd seen each night from her window.

" _Ooh_ , a lovely garment for the lady!" the older goblin crooned, having hopped onto the bed to get a look at the inside of the box. "Go on, hurry, Miss! Will take some time to prepare ye!"

Andie snapped out of her trance on the dress and nodded, tipping the lid off the smaller box while she wriggled out of her trousers and slouched style boots. The smaller box contained matching heels—she shuddered—and satin gloves, with crystal hairpins and small teardrop earrings.

Once she had finished undressing, the two goblins helped wrangle her into the black petticoat and corset to traditionally go beneath the gown and then had her sit at the marble vanity at the far side of the room. She sat quite still while the older goblin—who she discovered was named Neff—worked on curling and intricately styling her hair into a formal bun with the crystal bead-adorned pins and Rem put in her earrings and slid on her gloves. Andie was a little wary when it came to Rem wielding cosmetics, but she remained still and allowed it, thinking she would give the young goblin a fair chance and yet neglecting to look in the mirror throughout the process.

By the time they were done and demanded she "take a gander at herself," she hardly recognized her face in the mirror. Oh, but if only she could keep these lovely goblins as they had done tremendous work. Her skin appeared satiny and flawless, delicate sweeps of black along her lashes elongating her jade-hued eyes and emphasizing the dark, full fringe of lashes on either eye. It was only when one perfectly shaped and filled brow arched in shock that she realized she truly was looking at her own reflection. "Well?" Neff asked impatiently. "What do you think, Yer Ladyship?"

"You are both incredible," Andie said with obvious shock, causing the two to hoot and holler with victory. "Thank you…"

"You are most welcome," Rem chirped. "Oh, but look at the time!"

"Oh, yes, we must get you into your dress! The guests are already arriving!" Neff fretted, hobbling over to the box on the bed with Rem close behind.

Andie rose and moved toward the window, peering out to see the procession of all the Labyrinth's creatures—thankfully not a Firey in sight!—filtering into the entrance and assumably being led toward the long-prepared ballroom. When she leaned away from the window, a savory, mouth-watering scent hit her nose. "What is that smell?" she wondered in amazement.

"Oh, no, you don't, we laced you loosely, but not that loosely!" Neff muttered and Andie groaned at the thought of not indulging in any of the food downstairs. Then again, she supposed she might be too nervous about getting anything on the dress and about the soiree in general. She'd never been to anything remotely close to this before. Even her high school prom; she'd walked in sporting a short emerald dress, black Chucks, and a pixie cut, cat-eye liner on point. Had she dressed up for that, it was still leagues away from this. This was the stuff of fairytales, after all.

At their persistence, Andie moved over to where they had collapsed the dress on the floor, waiting until she stepped into it and carefully crouched down. The goblins slid the dress up over her and Andie held the bodice in place while Neff and Rem made short work of lacing the back. Rem grinned brightly as Andie slowly rose to her feet, glancing witheringly toward the heels set up on the floor. "Must I wear them?" she asked.

"I'm afraid so, Your Ladyship," Neff chuckled.

Andie wrinkled her nose and lifted her skirts to maneuver herself onto the awful things. Like everything else she wore, they were a perfect fit and yet still heinous simply because they were heels. They looked lovely, but _oh,_ her feet and back would kill her for it later.

There was a knock at the door and Neff and Rem tittered excitedly, Rem hurrying to open the door. Andie had expected Jareth perhaps, but instead she was greeted by Hoggle and Sir Didymus, both dressed for the occasion. Even Ambrosius wore a ruffle. "Oh, my lady!" Didymus gasped in awe.

"You…," Hoggle blushed a beet red. "You clean up good."

Andie smirked. "Thank you. So do you all! Very debonair, if I do say so myself."

The boys preened under her compliments and escorted her from the room, Neff and Rem sending them all off with praise and well wishes, at least until Neff found it necessary to remind Andie that the dining hall was off limits until the ball's end. Her warnings just made Andie want to rebel even more.

The group moved to take their place at the end of the procession, which was nearing its end. She already hated walking in the damning heels and tried to ignore them as well as she could and simply focus on moving forward with poise and grace. They chatted while each individual or group was announced formally at the doorway to the ballroom, at least until they were the next to be seen.

After a pair of green, fuzzy-looking creatures were let through, Andie took a slow breath and moved up with Hoggle and Didymus, both standing on either side of her and insisting on leading her in—which consisted of hand-holding rather than arm-linking for height differences, even while Didymus sat atop Ambrosius. The goblins at the door looked them over and the one on the right cleared his throat before making their announcement. "Hoggle, the castle groundskeeper; Sir Didymus and Ambrosius, guardscreatures of the Bog of Eternal Stench; Lady Cassandra of the Aboveground." Afterward, the goblin let the long scroll wind back into place, seeming relieved that he was through with his duties.

The room had fallen quiet at their arrival and Andie felt eyes on her throughout the assembled crowd. At first she felt uncomfortable, but determined not to let herself be cowed by the hoards of curious eyes, she lifted her chin an increment and moved forward with her companions. She relaxed only when she began to see familiar faces: some of the goblins of yesterday including the ones who had become so involved in the game she'd introduced to them all, the Wiseman and his Hat, Ludo and Leona with what appeared to be two other sphinxes, and then, at last Jareth, whose eyes were already upon her without indication of deviating any time soon.

In the hush of the room, only his footsteps reached her ears and she was uncertain whether it was a true quiet which had fallen over the guests or if all her senses had quite suddenly focused upon him, alone. He wore black breeches and newly polished black boots, a snow white poet's shirt draping over his torso beneath an intricate vest the same deep blue as her dress with golden fastenings and trim. His usual eye makeup seemed more dramatic somehow and he seemed to radiate an unnamable aura of ethereal magic, his eyes alight and absolutely, dauntlessly alive. While she admired him, he had moved to stand before her, a smug smile curving his lips as he flourished a bow and took her hands, both of which had been released by her friends within the last moment. Raising them to his lips, the Goblin King kissed her gloves and then straightened, tucking her hand gently in the crook of his arm and backing away to lead her further into the ballroom, to the dance floor.

He stopped at its center and Andie was glad he was so distracting because she would have been otherwise mortified at being in the middle of everything like this. Jareth never took his eyes off her, simply repositioned her left hand to his shoulder and his to her waist, keeping her right and beginning the first steps of the waltz they'd practiced just hours ago. The moment he began to move, music began to play and, vaguely, Andie recognized the sound as that of the musicians they had met at the black lake who had helped Jareth with his song to soothe the Netherbeast to sleep. A new sound rose with the instruments after a mystical introduction, a sweet soprano voice singing along.

Andie followed along with Jareth's movements, surprising herself, and soon the dance floor was filled with others grouping to dance as well. A calm from the music spread throughout the ballroom and Andie felt the effects on her frame, the tension leaving and replaced with a fluidity that only took their dance to a higher place.

"You look stunning," Jareth told her softly as they turned in rhythm with the slowly building symphony.

She blushed. "As do you." Andie was not sure what caused him to grin—whether it was her compliment or her flushed face—but she was glad to see it.

* * *

The night progressed and unfolded in good company and shimmering splendor, the guests moving freely about the castle after the dances had taken place and the musicians had all retired for the evening to enjoy the festivities. Andie had remained in the ballroom after Jareth disappeared for some time, quite inexplicably. She had happened upon the Wiseman and had greeted him, though it was very short-lived smalltalk before he asked her precisely what she had been avoiding the thought of all evening and for most of the past week.

"Have you uncovered how you might return home, child?" he asked amiably.

Andie paused heavily. "I have not."

He arched a furry brow her way. "You sound as though you have been thinking of other things…"

His hat took that moment to squawk, " _That_ is the understatement of the century!"

"Be quiet!" the Wiseman ordered haughtily before sipping at a goblet of wine he held.

Andie smirked halfheartedly. "To tell you the truth… I have been."

"And to what conclusion have you arrived?" She started to speak, but could not find the words, causing him to further encourage her to voice her thoughts. "Speak from your heart, child."

"My heart?" she repeated with a half-laugh that was far from humored. "My heart aches for my mother. For knowing that despite time being able to be ordered and reordered that there will still be some dimension of it in which I am not there for her. It kills me to know that and it kills me because it will be for my own selfish reasons. The longer I stay, the closer that looms."

The Wiseman was quiet, absorbing her words. "Then you do not want to stay," he reasoned from her rationalization, large eyes watching her to be certain he was reading that correctly.

Andie sighed, feeling her throat constrict as she fought tears she'd been pushing away for days at a time. "I want to stay. And yet my family _needs_ me and I want to be with them, too, but…" She paused and looked down toward her hands, realization dawning like a solid sting in her chest. "…But I need _him_."

The Wiseman's brow creased and he was silent for a time before telling her gently, "Sometimes to need is to let go."

This startled Andie and she looked at him with the beginnings of devastation and conflict loud in her mind. "Are you telling me to leave?" she asked softly.

"I give you only the wisdom to arrive where you must go," he said softly.

A tear slid down her cheek as she looked around for Jareth. "I… I'm not sure I can tell him goodbye… I want to, but I don't know if I can…"

"I am sure the King will understand," he assured her as she fought back more tears. "But if you see fit, you may seek him out."

Andie smiled sadly. "One look from him will change my mind, I know it will. And…," she sighed miserably. "And my family needs me. I should go before I have time to talk myself out of it."

The Wiseman nodded once. "Then be careful, child. If that is what you must do."

Andie nodded tightly and looked around one more hopeless time for Jareth before weaving through the crowd to make it to the entryway, going all the way up to her room and retrieving her belongings and the backpack before working her way back down and slipping out the side door of the ballroom, which led from the ballroom out to the gardens. Her very core hurt from the absence of the man she'd come to realize she loved, from not being able to see him one last time before she left. The party commenced without her, not noticing her absence for quite some time. Only the Wiseman watched her go, his hat abnormally silent and still.

She had at first convinced herself that she was only going outside for some air and, while the cool night did revive her and clear her head, she looked toward the sky and recognized it as not her own and knew she could not turn back. And before she could think straight and logically tear the problem apart as she normally would have to get to the bare bones, she was running. Deep down, she knew that wouldn't work. She'd done that already, many times, and to no avail. She knew her duty was to her family, to her ailing mother, to her future career, to her _world_ and yet she wanted so much to be a part of his world, too. She would never come to terms with either side because she wanted both and she had told herself all along that she had to do what was right.

Andie ran all the way to the opening of the Labyrinth in the far side of the garden, holding up her skirts so she could better move, dreading the thought of running into Jareth out here and looking just as she was: a runaway. While he may have understood her reasons, she could just see the look on his face; his features drawn and expressionless while his eyes held the truth. He was a spectacular player of indifference; however, she had gained the ability to see through that in her time with him.

She took a deep breath, not allowing herself to look back, and plunged back into the winding maze, knowing it would all be so different now that it was whole again, but hoping that bettered her chances. Yet, in the darkness and in her uncertainty, she soon found it unbearably difficult to navigate and she felt like an utter fool for even attempting it. Time was moving again, she could very well die out there this time if she got well and truly lost enough to starve. And she couldn't quite blame Jareth if he allowed that to happen, given the betrayal he would likely feel once he found that she was gone.

High up on the balcony above the gardens, the Wiseman stepped out into the night air, much more morose than anyone had ever seen him. Once he was alone and separated from the party, a faint shimmer washed over him and the illusion was dropped, Jareth revealing himself to the dark. His somber gaze immediately fastened upon the fiery young woman moving through the maze, the one he had urged against both their desires to go back home. "Silly girl, you are going the wrong way," he mumbled under his breath as he watched her progress, wincing faintly when she stumbled out of her shoe and nearly turned her ankle. Jareth sighed softly, glancing toward the sky and whispering, "Always forcing me to eat my words…," before he raised one gloved hand to the heavens.

There was naught but a faint glitter in the sky at first, but soon one of the starry clusters swirled freely from their fixed position in the sky, soaring down into the lush plant life below before swiftly entering the Labyrinth after Andie, catching up to light her way.

Andie had just forgone her shoes to avoid further injury, running barefoot through the pathways and adjusting the backpack strap over her bare shoulder. Her dress rustled with every movement in the quiet and she drew a shuddering breath of despair just as the maze suddenly illuminated starkly around her. She winced at the intense light, but as her eyes adjusted, she saw that perhaps a hundred _stars_ of varying sizes seemed to be swirling around her, constantly in motion. Once she acknowledged them, they began to swerve into the path leading to the left, flowing like water in a stream.

She stared at them and, in a flash of an epiphany, whirled to look up at the balcony, but it was empty and her heart fell, even though it was likely better this way. Though she told herself it certainly wasn't _him_ aiding her, she knew in her heart that it was and it only broke her further.

When the remaining stars began impatiently dancing around her, Andie broke back into her run, following the body of starlight through winding twists and turns, trusting it and letting it guide her to wherever it was she needed to go. After what felt like a solid hour of quick turns she might have missed and secret passageways she would have most definitely missed, Andie slowed, seeing the end in sight. She walked along, bathed in the light of the celestial bodies which had piloted her through the Labyrinth, and looked up at the towering gate she'd never seen before, the official entrance to the Labyrinth. And exit, apparently.

She moved forward and pressed against the doors, which swung open in unison to reveal a stretch of barren wasteland, dead shrubs twisting up from the dry earth ahead. Andie looked toward the ground and, just a few steps away, saw a void. It was smaller and a more uniform circle than those she remembered from the Labyrinth. If she could properly recall, it looked much more like the one which had swallowed her up in the first place. She wondered how long it had been there, waiting.

Andie looked over her shoulder toward the stars clustered still within the frame of the Labyrinth's path, swerving around one another in a timeless, incomprehensible pattern. "Thank you," she said softly, though she doubted that they would understand.

Something clicked in their systems, as immediately after her words of gratitude, they shot back into the sky, spinning end over end until they were reunited with their brothers and sisters, a perfect piece of mystery in the alternate universe she had come to know. She watched them a moment longer before looking to the void, knowing without being told that it would take her home.

Swallowing hard, Andie closed her eyes and put every ounce of her faith into her next steps, the last of which sent her through the void and into the darkness. She would remember falling, air rushing past her with the strength of the maelstrom that had preceded the healing of the world she left behind, and she would remember how the weight in her chest solidified, the most real of anything she had experienced in this impossible place.

With the same violent fall with which she entered the Labyrinth, she fell back into her apartment seconds after stepping into the void; she knew from the vague "after rain" smell dispersing from her wax burner. Andie looked up and first saw the glowing time on her digital clock, which read 12:02am and, in the corner, the date of the day she'd fallen through. She'd lost two minutes. Two weeks of lessons and experiences in another land cost her two minutes of her night home.

At first, she was prepared to console herself with the narrative of this all being a dream and she'd simply fallen out of bed, but when she looked down, she found that next to impossible. She still had the dress on, the backpack still on her shoulders, and her bare feet were dirty and blistered from running.

With this knowledge, the knowledge that it had all been so very real as she'd known all along, the tears finally escaped her and she remained on the floor as she wept for the future she had given up.


	19. The Right Words

Months passed in the human world. Almost eight months, to be exact.

In that time, Jeremy had found a new job with a plush enough salary to support his wife and daughter. Colette had relocated after her transfer went through at work and had both stayed a few weeks with her parents and gotten moved into her rental once it was ready in that time. David had worked something out in order to spend a bit more time home with Sarah in the coming months as her illness progressed, though she had shown a considerable amount of improvement in those first couple of months.

And then, just as suddenly as she'd improved, Sarah was back to where she'd started. January 10, just days before Andie's graduation ceremony, was the day Sarah's returning tremors jolted a glass of lemonade from her grasp and sent it to the floor, where it shattered and soaked the linoleum. A reflexive step back had caught her heel and she'd slipped, hospitalized forty-five minutes later with glass-riddled lacerations on her feet and legs and some mild trauma to her head.

The family spent the day with her at the hospital and the kids only left around dinnertime to pick up some takeout. Jeremy and Andie parted with their sister at the restaurant, all heading their separate ways; Jeremy home to rest for work in the morning, Andie to her apartment to get some sleep herself and continue to recharge after the rigorous completion of her finals, and Colette back to the hospital to take David his dinner and see if they could get Sarah to eat something. After a couple quick errands on her way, Andie returned to her apartment and flipped the switch, setting her dinner on the counter.

The months following her departure of the Labyrinth had been harder than she could've ever imagined. For some time, she had kept the whole of the ordeal to herself, though it had been apparent to everyone that something was amiss, particularly when she belatedly—and impulsively—signed up for two of her remaining courses online in order to keep her mind occupied through the summer months. It gave her work while at home, alone with her thoughts, and yet allowed her a good amount of time to tend to her family as well. She'd kept herself busy until her last semester hit and—between a full course load, her job, and the visits to her parents' house, it was a wonder she had time to think. And yet, she always did.

She'd finally cracked a little for the first time around Thanksgiving and found herself in an awful state just before her extended family on her father's side was due to arrive. In the middle of mashing potatoes, she'd felt her mother touch her cheek, which was when she'd realized she'd started to cry and was now obligated to give some kind of explanation. "Sorry, I just…," Andie had started to fib reflexively as she had for months now whenever someone asked her what was wrong, but she hesitated. She needed to talk about it, if only to hear herself rationalize it. And who better to understand than… "Mom?"

"What is it?" Sarah had asked, clearly concerned.

"I was there," Andie divulged quietly after another brief moment of uncertainty.

"…There?" Sarah repeated, bewildered. "There, where?"

"The Labyrinth," Andie sighed. "I… I was there. It was two weeks in their world, but just a couple of minutes here." She tried to read her mom's expression, but it was becoming increasingly difficult. "Do you believe me?"

"I have no reason not to," Sarah had murmured with some hesitation as she tried to process what her daughter was telling her. "But… How did you get there?"

"The crystal peach in your memory box," Andie had explained, sniffling a little. "I found it when I went to get your music box a few months ago. I took it back home after Dad said I could have it and the edge of the leaf cut my finger… And then I was there."

"And you were there for two weeks?" Sarah murmured in disbelief.

Andie nodded. "Yeah. I had to help fix things and then I stayed some time after that before I…" She frowned. "Before I came home."

"Are you…," Sarah started to ask, sighing and feeling guilty that she was being so hesitant with believing her, despite being in her same shoes decades ago, though she'd never had the courage to breathe a word of it afterward. She'd also been reluctant to tell anyone from a want to keep the magic and adventure of the experience all to herself. "Are you sure it wasn't an elaborate dream? I'm not asking to belittle what you're saying, it's just…" She shook her head. "It seems so…"

"You know I wouldn't make something like this up," Andie murmured, getting frustrated. "I could tell you all the names of the creatures I met and describe them _in detail_ and all the things they had to say about you—"

"Who did you meet?" she asked with wide eyes.

"Everyone," Andie had said with confidence. "Maybe even more than you did when you were there. I don't know. I just… I need you to believe me, Mom. Please? I have proof. At my apartment, I'll bring it here. I found your backpack and Lancelot in the junkyard—"

"Lancelot?" Sarah had repeated a bit distantly, still appearing startled.

"—and the dress I had on at the ball came through with me, I still have a scar on my foot from one of my blisters after I ran back through the paths! And—"

"Did you meet Hoggle?" Sarah asked with sudden animation. "What about Ludo, are they all okay?"

"Hoggle's fine and as secretly sensitive as ever, I should think," Andie remarked, much to her mother's delight. "Ludo and Sir Didymus are both fine, they're all fine now."

"Ambrosius?"

"Fine," Andie had assured her, relieved that she seemed to take her word for it now.

"And…" Sarah had hesitated then and Andie knew who was coming next. "Did you meet the Goblin King?"

 _"Meet" is putting it loosely_ , Andie couldn't help but think. "Yes," she said, unable to stop herself from sounding a little wistful.

She wrinkled her nose a little. "Awful sort, isn't he?" she mumbled bitterly.

"I… I don't know. I mean, I didn't think so."

Sarah looked surprised again, but her gaze was speculative. "Oh?"

Andie had shaken her head in reply. "It sounds like we met very different sides of him. And saw two very different worlds."

Sarah leaned in to ask more about it when David had poked his head through the doorway and had announced the arrival of his parents. Sarah had glanced conspiratorially toward Andie and said they would be out, though she said in a whisper, "And we will discuss this more later."

Andie had felt something in her lighten at that. "Absolutely."

In days following, they had indeed discussed it further, though on Andie's terms. She never mentioned the developing relationship she'd had with Jareth nor did she mention exactly what had compelled her to flee the Labyrinth. She had brought Sarah's pristine blue backpack and her bear in her next visit to speak with her mom and the look on her face had been worth toting it all around through the remainder of her journey following the run-in with the Junk Lady. She'd never seen her mother light up so ecstatically, at least not for a very, very long time. In multiple visits, she gave a complete, detailed retelling of the Labyrinth as she'd found it, how she'd come across Sarah's old friends and former acquaintance-turned-potential suitor-turned-rival, and what her seemingly accidental trip into the world of her childhood fairytales had become while Sarah sat and listened, positively enraptured by the new chapters of the story she knew by heart.

Andie had brought Lancelot with her to the hospital after picking up a change of clothes for both her parents after getting the call from her dad from the ER lobby. In leaving the bear with her mother, she felt a little better, knowing that if her memory started to waver as well, she would have something from her remembered past to cling to. The trouble was, Andie had realized, that Sarah was all too "there" mentally and aware of her failing condition now; the medication was still working in that area of her system for sure. It made it understandably harder for her to accept and it was difficult to see her so visibly frustrated with the involuntary agitations in her hands and the decreasing dependability of her natural equilibrium. Andie pondered that while watching her lukewarm Chinese food rotate in the microwave, hardly moving at first when the high-pitched beeping began to issue from the machine, at least until she realized exactly how hungry she was after the long day.

Taking the bowl of hot-and-sour soup out of the appliance, she set it down and sliced open the fried wontons due to go in next so they would heat up through the middle without multiple sessions. After placing those in for their quick zap back into edibility, Andie took a bite of her soup, burned her mouth, and retreated to turn something on for background noise, selecting an old mix CD she'd left sitting on top of her outdated stereo for probably a solid year or so. Of Monsters and Men's "King and Lionheart" was coaxed from the machine and Andie tried to just allow it to remain white noise, but it seemed that she read into way too much lately.

Making herself breathe deeply and just enjoy the song for what it was—considering she'd once loved the track for its complete lack of relation to her life experiences that had since grown—Andie prodded the surface of her soup and, finding it still too hot, she went to the window and slid it open, leaning out to peer into the night for what had become her source of distraction over the past week and a half. Absently, she hummed softly to the song, a little disappointed when she didn't see the barn owl that must be roosted somewhere nearby for how often it sat outside her window in the large oak tree near her side of the building. One of the limbs reached just ten feet shy of the glass panes and that's where it had taken up residence, or at least a temporary watch. Andie had looked for its nest one day and hadn't found anything but squirrel nests in the immediate area. In all the December-January snow, Andie had felt a bit bad for it.

" _Howling ghosts, they reappear in mountains that are stacked with fear, but you're a king and I'm a lionheart…_ ," she sang softly beneath her breath to the music in the room behind her, grimacing a bit as she grew chilled and considering how her heating bill must be suffering from her opening the window so often lately to observe nature like the curious being she was. She was also unadmittedly saddened by the song and what it dredged up in her, memories coming quite like ghosts, indeed.

A rustle sounded from above and she tilted her head sideways and back to peer up toward the edge of the roof, where her owl was perched silently, watching her with its strange moonlike face. "Well, it's about damn time." The owl fluttered its wings a bit and took off toward the oak tree, settling in its usual spot and blinking at her blankly while she contemplated all the cons of letting a wild owl in her apartment so it wouldn't be cold all night.

Andie shook her head at herself and heard the microwave beep a second time, leaning back to duck through the open window and making a mental note to check online to see if birdhouses existed for owls. She slid the window shut and went to retrieve her food, every so often glancing through the window to see if the barn owl was still there. It remained until just around midnight, when Andie finally retired to bed after exhausting herself with catching up on shows she'd recorded to the DVR, in which time it was once there on the branch, watching the darkened window, and then gone just as suddenly as it had arrived.

* * *

The day before Andie's graduation, Sarah was resting in her hospital room alone, her husband and two of her children who had come to visit that day—Colette and Andie—having just left to get some lunch and depart for their workplaces. The dosage of her pain medication was being gradually lowered, so she—thankfully—had better mental clarity than she had for days, but she was sore. Her head still entertained a dull ache where she'd hit it the day of her fall and, although what pain reliever she had in her system was staving off the stinging in her legs, her tremors caused the healing cuts in her hands to ache more than they should have. The frustration she felt at this was immense.

Jarred from her thoughts when the nurse entered to check the monitors and her IV, she smiled politely and declined when asked if she needed anything at that time. What she needed was for all this to go away. She needed to be at her daughter's graduation in the morning. She needed to be able to pass the rest of her life with her husband as a partner instead of what she saw as a burden. A tear escaped her and she swallowed tightly as it rolled down her cheek, her lips curving in a bitter smile as she thought about just how honestly unfair it was, a phrase she'd tried to stay away from for some time now.

Sarah glanced over when she heard her door open, one brow lifting as she brushed the bit of moisture from her cheek. It was a man, though he had his back turned to her, and he had a bouquet in the hand that was not guiding the door back to the jamb. He had on a heavy black peacoat lightly dusted with snow, black leather gloves, and jeans, and his longish blond hair was contained by a cord at the nape of his neck. Definitely no one she knew. "Er, sir? You have the wrong room."

The man paused heavily, his hand still lightly resting on the door handle, and at first she thought maybe he was just embarrassed, but when he didn't leave immediately after, she shifted a bit uncomfortably, wondering if she should press the button to call the nurse. "I disagree," he finally murmured softly and the voice sent a jolt through her equal only to that which issued down her spine when he turned around.

"Y-You…," she stuttered, the machine monitoring her heart rate spiking and illustrating her panic. "No, you have no—"

"I know, dear," the Goblin King said placatingly. "Believe me, I know."

The soothing tone threw her off and made her more suspicious than reassured. Then again, she'd grown used to pity from people over the past few months who had found out about her illness, to which she still did not quite know how to respond. Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Then… Why are you here?"

 _She is still so familiar_ , he couldn't help but think. Jareth had fully expected to feel angry at seeing her again, perhaps surprised to see her no longer the teenager he remembered, perchance even sad, but mostly bitter, if anything at all. Instead of feeling anything for himself, he felt sad for her and her family. Apart from that, the woman before him—once just a girl in search of her brother—was as lovely and unexpected as he remembered. Much like her daughter.

He grimaced a little at that; the relation had made him wonder on a few occasions if he was truly the definition of a creep, but he could not help who he'd fallen for thousands of his world's years ago and he couldn't help the direction his heart had taken in these recent years either. At least, that is what he told himself. Finally as an answer, he hoisted the bouquet a bit. "Visiting."

"So suddenly after nearly forty-six years?" she wondered dubiously.

"Well, I…" He paused mid-sentence, eyes widening incrementally. "Has it really only been forty-six years here since we met?" Shocked, he added, "How long has it been since Andie returned?"

Sarah found it surreal, hearing the Goblin King of her youth use her daughter's name so casually. _Then again_ , she realized thoughtfully. _She technically spent more time with him than I ever did. How strange._ Along with that, she noticed, there was a certain note of tenderness she'd never heard him use. She made a mental note of that and continued to observe. "A few months?" she estimated after some brief calculation.

Jareth groaned and seemed more the melodramatic monarch she remembered. "Am I the only one to suffer the millennia of what you willful women leave behind?"

Her eyes widened. "Millennia?"

"Andie did not tell you of our journey?" he asked in surprise.

"Well, yes, but she didn't mention the time difference," Sarah reasoned. "Though I suppose I should have known from being there, myself. I just assumed you turned back the clock for me."

"No, it seems there is simply quite the difference. My power had already waned by the time I would have thought to do any such thing, as my kingdom was in the midst of collapse…"

"It's not like I knew _that_ would happen," she groused a bit guiltily. "Though I don't know what you could've meant by the 'suffering' you might have been left with this time, Andie said you all managed to fix everything."

Jareth said nothing, just gave a faint lift of his shoulders and murmured, "There are varying degrees of suffering. I'm still not quite over your bit of it," he drawled dramatically, slipping the bouquet he was holding into the empty hospital-white vase near the window.

"You should have just given Toby back," she grumbled beneath her breath before her eyes fell to the flowers. "Daffodils?" she wondered, thinking she would've categorized him as more of a rose enthusiast.

He glanced her way. "Is that a problem?"

"No, just a little surprising. Thank you."

"Chivalry, rebirth, new beginnings…," he listed loosely with a shrug as an explanation. "They seemed appropriate."

"For me or for you?" Sarah smirked, finally a bit more relaxed and intrigued that he was apparently so knowledgable about flower symbolism. "You seem different."

"I feel different," Jareth supposed in vague agreement. "I think it is the good sort…"

"Seems like," Sarah said, nodding. "What caused that?"

Jareth hesitated. "A multitude of _what_ 's. One _who_ , I should think." Sarah's sneaking suspicion grew as he scoffed a little. "Though you had a hand in it. Knocked me clean off my high horse, I suppose."

"The air does get a little thin up there," she noted smugly. "Though you've yet to tell me why you're really here, _Your Highness_ …"

His Highness shifted a bit uncomfortably under her gaze. "Your daughter…is an incredible woman and—," he tried to blurt out rather unsuccessfully.

" _Oh_ , I knew it!" she accused, one hand jabbing a finger his way. The moment broke when Jareth noticed the tremor that caused her sure hand to shake and, in turn, Sarah noticed as well and habitually folded her arms over her chest to mask it. The silence stretched until she finally asked with a huff, "You were saying?"

His eyes moved to hers and she realized she didn't feel like she shrank beneath his gaze any longer, not like when she was in the Labyrinth scrambling to find the castle with seemingly every available obstacle thrown into her path. They were equals and he seemed to realize this as well, shown in the way he held himself and the way he spoke to her. And the way he hesitated and seemed to internally war with himself spoke volumes about the way Andie had become his equal, too.

After he'd valiantly fought against his own mind for a solid minute and had clenched and unclenched his jaw a minimum of seven times, Sarah finally asked with some tension in her own jaw as she tried very hard to remain civil and avoid passing immediate judgment, "Do you love my girl?"

Jareth looked at her at last and seemed to steel his will, which she attributed to perhaps a sensation that he might be doing something wrong by how he was going about this. Then again, considering the length of time he'd been alive, he more than likely placed a great deal of importance upon the art of courting despite being very untraditional in other ways. This weight was confirmed when he next spoke with a tone of the utmost reverence one singular word: "Fervently."

She absorbed that silently and allowed the silence to get uncomfortable because, well, she could. The situation in and of itself made her slightly uncomfortable, so she decidedly made him uncomfortable, too. At least until she finally nodded tightly and murmured, "Good."

The Goblin King blinked and she had never seen him more shocked. "…What?"

"You heard me," she snapped, making his eyes go even wider. "Though I'm demanding that you tell my friends in the Underground that they need to find a way here… I miss them."

"You can invite them, yourself," he murmured with one brow arched at her demand.

"I tried, but the mirror doesn't work anymore," she admitted embarrassedly.

"Mm, no, it would not have while time was stilled and magic dormant. It will now, however, now that the bridge between worlds is functional again." He sat on the edge of the bed and watched the staff walk past the door, silhouettes behind gridded glass. "Apart from that, I do not think I will be returning to the Underground for a while yet."

"Why not?" she asked in surprise.

"Exploring my options," he reasoned vaguely as he grew more serious. "A part of my intent for coming here was, now that it has been brought to your attention, to ask your permission to marry your daughter should such a possibility come to fruition. I know that is what I want at some point, but who knows what she will want… And what you will want for her."

 _He expects me to refuse_ , she noted as she studied him. "It's her life. Who she ends up with is entirely up to her. But… She could do worse." Sarah smirked a little and Jareth chuckled. "But you better damn well have changed your ways, Jareth. I mean it. I've gotten over my grudge for what happened all those years ago, but may the Powers that Be have mercy on your gobliny soul if you hurt my baby."

"Threat taken," Jareth assured her. "Believe me, that is far from what I want."

"Good," Sarah said again. "Because should things go that far, you have hopefully realized I'd be your mother-in-law." A smug Cheshire grin spread across her face at that while he contrarily seemed to pale a little. "Do you understand?"

"Indeed," Jareth said, scowling a little her way. "You've become rather scary, do you know that?"

"I know that," Sarah sighed, settling back against her pillows. "I've got to be if I want to be threatening in this state of health, I suppose."

Jareth frowned and rose slowly. "I will leave you to rest," he said quietly, a concentrative furrow between his brows as he stepped forward and bent to drop a brief kiss to her forehead. "Sleep. And—should Andie return before I speak with her—might I request you do not tell her I am here? Or…what we spoke of?"

"Don't worry. I won't spoil anything for your necessary flair," she teased him with a roll of her eyes.

"I would appreciate that," he noted, back to his normal self as he returned her eye-roll mockingly. He'd barely started toward the door before pausing one more time. "Thank you, Sarah," Jareth said quietly.

Sarah watched him contemplatively. "You're welcome."

He was nearly out the door when it opened and Toby stepped in, absently tugging at his ball cap when he bumped into the departing Goblin King. "Oh, sorry," he said reflexively, though he looked confused when it wasn't one of the kids or David that he'd run into.

Jareth blinked at the other man and squinted a bit. "You remind me of the… _Oh_ , Toby!"

Sarah laughed harder at this odd reunion—at the slightly overenthusiastic King of the Underground and her awkward, baffled baby brother—than she'd laughed in months, so much so that she'd not yet noticed that the tremors which had wrought her hands constantly for the near-equivalent of that time had stopped.


	20. Between the Stars

January 14th was a day for the unexpected. Just when hospital visits and clustered work schedules had become the mundane routine of their busy lives, this day of days fell into a day off for all involved and the day that Sarah was discharged from the hospital, her minor injuries now the largest point of concern on her health record. The doctors couldn't explain it and neither could her nurse who had administered the new tests after Sarah seemed to have shown very random, but considerable, signs of improvement. Her tremors gone, her mental state bettering even further, and her balance returning, they had seen fit to check on the progression of her illness, but had instead discovered that her dopamine levels were stabilizing at a surprising rate. It was as if she'd never been sick at all and it was nothing short of a miracle.

Not only that, but she had been able to attend Andie's graduation after all. In a wheelchair for safety purposes—she was both fresh out of the hospital as of the night before and it was her first day off the medication she'd been taking—but in attendance and ecstatically so. She had demanded that David allow it to remain a surprise and regretted it only a little when they cheered after Andie took her diploma and began her walk back to her seat, saw them, saw _her_ , and then proceeded to tearfully laugh in utter shock, which earned her a few baffled glances from her peers.

The rest of the day was spent grabbing lunch and with a small party at David and Sarah's house, which had originally been intended only as a graduation gathering for Andie, but now celebrated Sarah's homecoming and seemingly miraculous recovery as well. No one could believe it and it appeared to Andie once she had time to think about it that the only person not completely floored by her sudden recuperation was Sarah, herself. Andie found her way over to Sarah after those in attendance had taken to mingling and then gone outside to play a game, leaving only a few stragglers in the house. "Hey, Xena," Andie teased happily, sitting down next to her mother on the couch.

Sarah smirked, still a little tired. "Warrior princess? I don't know about that."

"You're joking, right?" Andie wondered. "You develop a disease with no known cure and, suddenly, you wake up one day and just don't have it anymore… That's pretty warrior-like."

Her smirk became a small smile and she shrugged. "I hardly think it was my doing. Regardless, I'm terribly glad things turned out this way. I'm almost afraid to think it's gone for good."

"We'll just hope it is," Andie said reassuringly. "And whatever happens, we'll deal. Okay?"

Sarah nodded a little. "Okay. Just be open to whatever happens now. Okay?"

Andie sensed an underlying meaning in her mother's words and frowned. "…Are we still talking about your health or have we moved on to something else?"

Sarah smiled again. "We didn't change topics. But apply that advice in a general sense, my love."

"Oh… Okay," Andie murmured, bewildered, and thinking maybe her mom really needed to get some rest.

The remainder of the day was passed with lawn games, small talk, and Pinterest-derived finger foods Colette had turned out by the tray-load—the entirety of which was devoured during the party, or so Andie thought until Colette produced one more tray for her to take back to her apartment. Sarah retired to her room approximately halfway through the party to rest and, when Andie poked her head in to say goodbye, she found her mother sound asleep and didn't have the heart or will to wake her. She was very sure she would be seeing her the next day, so there was no need. Andie was only relieved beyond compare that she was on the mend, no matter how impossible a mend it seemed.

She'd been mulling it all over since the ceremony, when the apparent miracle had presented itself in the best graduation present she could have received. And as she hauled the tray of Colette's creations and her bag of unopened graduation cards from her passenger seat upon her return to her building, the neurology-infused gears of her mind were whirring as if slick with oil and turned up to a dangerously high setting. She knew the recovery was next to impossible, particularly in the span of time it had to have taken place. However, it had happened, and she could only wonder how. While one third of her thoughts backed far away from reading into it—it was a gift from the gods or serendipity or the universe or whatever spun this world in these mind-bending ways—the other two thirds of her mind played on separate curiosities, those of a scientist and a witness to what even doctors proclaimed was out of their ability to explain.

Andie precariously shuffled the bag to slide down her arm and switched the tray over to her left hand before digging for her key— _Idiot, should have done that before you got this stuff out of the car!_ —and locating it in her coat pocket, unlocking the door and shouldering it open. She bypassed the switch for the lights for the time being, maneuvering blindly after the door shut behind her and locating some empty counter space on which to set her spoils. She had just released the snack tray when the silence broke and she experienced what was likely her second heart attack of her short life.

"Congratulations."

" _Jesus_ H. Christ," she exclaimed, nearly flipping the tray off her hand in her jolt of fright and only finding an instant of relief when she recognized the voice. "Don't _do_ that."

"Sorry," Jareth murmured, though he wasn't all that apologetic about it. She saw him after she knew where to look; he was near the window, engulfed in the shadows that rested beside the moonlight penetrating the window pane.

"You know," Andie began after she'd managed to deep-breathe her body down from survival mode, "you could always go for the not-quite-as-dramatic entrance that _doesn't_ nearly kill me."

He stepped into the moonlight and somehow, in that lithe movement, obliterated the darkness that separated them and crossed over into her space. He looked different, she noticed immediately as the pure light washed over him and then her eyes adjusted to the dark; he was in what she considered to be normal clothes, his long hair was tied back, and the artful cosmetic display that normally decorated his eyes was absent. He looked almost _ordinary_. And yet, still, despite his obvious attempts, he didn't look very ordinary at all. A smirk tilted his mouth as he moved away from the far wall and came to lean against the edge of the counter opposite to her, his arms crossing over his chest. "I daresay it would startle you more if I did. What do you all consider an _average_ entrance?" He spat the word "average" a bit, which was the last surprising part of this encounter to Andie.

She shrugged. "I don't really have a doorbell, I guess. Maybe just knocking. Or hanging out, you know, _outside_ my apartment until I come by?"

"Why would I do that?"

"…Because it's _my_ apartment?"

Jareth scoffed a little. "That doesn't answer my question."

Andie rolled her eyes a little. "How long have you been here?"

He shrugged, seeming a little uncomfortable despite the ease he displayed. "Just a couple of days."

She squinted at him. "I meant _here_. Like my place."

"Oh," Jareth mumbled. "Perhaps an hour? Time is different in this place and as such, I find it difficult to gauge."

"You've been here for a couple of _days_?" Andie asked and then tried to reel in her surprise, reminding herself that she didn't really have a right to wonder why he'd taken so long to show up. "I mean… What brings you up from the Underground? There might be an uprising with the King missing…"

He smirked faintly, but it seemed plastic. "Well, in all honesty, I have stepped into what you lot call retirement… I still hold power over the realm, but I am no longer the reigning king."

Andie's eyes widened. "You found an heir? That fast?"

Jareth's expression turned sardonic. "It perhaps felt fast for you, darling. In the Underground, millennia have passed again." He grimaced toward the moonlit window. "Funny how this seems to be a recurring theme."

"How long?" she asked quietly, ignoring the way her nervous stomach fluttered at the endearment. It was a slip. It had to be.

He looked at her calmly. "Just shy of six-thousand years."

Andie cursed softly. "And it took you this damn long to come here?"

Jareth was surprised by her response, but also very unsurprised as well. It was a curious feeling. "I was not the one who ran away."

The words cut her, but they were the truth. "Fair enough," she murmured, looking toward the floor.

Jareth's lips twisted at the defeated expression; this was not the woman he knew. And he didn't like that he'd caused the change, despite the accuracy of his statement. "Though I will say it was a fruitless string of years as far as the search for an heir went… The majority of its benefits were to the continued construction of the Labyrinth and what more could I possibly add?"

"I hope you didn't put in another snake pit," she teased quietly, glancing at him.

"I've learned my lesson, I assure you," he chuckled, his eyes never straying from her as they spoke.

"I take it that you found your heir though," she observed. "Considering you're in 'retirement'."

"Indeed. And not where I expected to."

"Meaning?"

"Leona showed surprising measures of regality and leadership qualities in our travels… Who better to see through the guises of foes than one who guarded the gates since the Labyrinth was born?" Jareth toyed with the end of his ponytail lazily. "And I thought it befitted the Underground to have a queen again. It had been quite some time."

Andie had to admit, she couldn't come up with a better choice now that she gave it some thought. "She will _definitely_ keep the goblins in line."

"I thought the same," Jareth concurred.

"But you didn't answer my question."

"Which one?" he wondered.

"Pick one," she challenged him vaguely.

"No," he declined firmly.

"Why not?"

"Because I intentionally leave a great number of questions—yours specifically—unanswered for a reason. I shall not dredge up anything I mustn't be demanded to answer."

Andie made a mental note to start a list of all the questions he evaded. Though she doubted she'd have a very long list, as she couldn't imagine him staying here long enough for it to be an issue. She was honestly shocked he hadn't just happened by to tear her a new one. "Why mine specifically?"

"Because you ask the right questions," he grumbled.

She smiled, pleased with that. He watched her expression lighten for the first time this visit and he reveled in its change. "This time, I'm wondering what brought you to the…er, Aboveground."

"Next question," he murmured.

"No way!"

"I am not declaring that question to remain unanswered, but it is not time for it yet. Next."

She muttered about the relativity of time under her breath before switching gears, "Fine, then how about an unspoken question?"

His eyes glittered faintly with interest. "Go on."

"A couple of days?" she wondered again. "Why show up now?"

"I had matters to attend to beforehand," he said ambiguously, which just served to frustrate Andie a bit because she didn't want to pry by actually prying. He let her stew for a moment before adding, "One of those matters was visiting your mother while she was in the hospital."

Andie nodded a little, once again not entirely surprised. "It was scary this time. She hit her head and knocked herself out. And yet, somehow—" She stopped then, pieces clicking into place in her head, and Jareth watched as calculation flooded her eyes and then was entirely displaced by the beginnings of realization. Andie looked at him intently and her eyes stung faintly as she fought back whatever reaction was brewing. "…Did you?"

His features remained passive. "Did I, what?"

"You know damn well what," she snapped softly.

Jareth's brows rose. "Perhaps. Though I thought you would be pleased." She swallowed hard and moisture slipped from her eyes to roll down her cheeks, deepening the Goblin King's frown as bewilderment seeped through him. "Was I mistaken?" he asked doubtfully, just endeavoring to understand her response.

She swiped the tears from her jaw, where they had rolled to and clung, "No," she murmured hoarsely, clearing her throat. "I'm sorry. Thank you."

He nodded incrementally. "Of course."

"It is far more than I could have ever hoped to wish for," she murmured, her throat still tight.

"I did not choose your wish for you. This was an isolated good," Jareth assured her, arching a brow when she seemed confused. "Your end of the bargain we struck still stands. I merely assure you that it is still at your disposal. Should you want it."

"How could I possibly ask for anything else?" she wondered incredulously.

He smiled at her complete lack of composure and how she seemed positively perplexed at how to handle her overflow of emotions. "You didn't ask for me to help her. I do have a few kind bones in my body, you know."

"I didn't mean for it to sound like that, I just… You have no idea how—"

"I do. Please. You'll embarrass me."

Andie smirked a little. "Can I know what brought you here? Or was that what we just discussed?"

"I am still vouching for the next question. Though I will say Sarah was part of that. I just didn't expect to find her how I did."

Andie nodded with a sad look in her eyes, even as she reminded herself that those stressful days were now certainly behind them all. _"Just be open to whatever happens now. Okay?"_ _Subtle, Mom…_ , she thought with a bit of reluctant amusement, feeling as if she'd missed out on some big secret. "Well… What about the question you wouldn't answer before? About why you were so on edge before we got to the throne room."

"You know, good humans forget about things," Jareth informed her grumpily. When she only waited for an appropriate response, he sighed and replied, "I suppose because it was an ending."

"I'm not sure I follow," Andie commented.

"You, Andie," he murmured, his jaw tightening some with frustration. "It was a close to the journey, an answer to the question, the clang of midnight for our story's Cinderella, apparently."

"You know our fairytales," she observed, a little impressed.

"Sweetheart, I _am_ one."

"Fair," she remarked, grimacing at the implications of his last metaphor. "And… I had to go. But I'm also sorry that I did. I should have said goodbye. I just remember talking to the Wiseman and then I was halfway through the garden. Something he said just…set me off, something like—"

"Sometimes to need is to let go," he recited the line softly.

Andie went a bit pale with shock. "Did he tell you that, too?"

"Not exactly," he sighed and, before her eyes within a faint shimmer of light, transformed into the Wiseman, himself.

"You… You were him?" she demanded, her jaw a bit slack.

"Only in those few moments," he reasoned as he transformed back.

"But I… I said—" Her face went red, much to his inward amusement. " _You_ told me to go!"

"In a way," Jareth admitted. "I made you come to terms with going, I believe."

"Did you want me to leave? Or did you just know I had to?"

"Honestly, woman, what do _you_ think?" he groused.

"Did you send the stars down, too?" Andie asked, remembering the ethereal sight that had served to guide her down the right paths to leave the Labyrinth.

"I move the stars for no one," he said like a line from a script before adding more rawly, "except perhaps for you."

"Why did you come here, Goblin King?" she asked softly.

His beautiful eyes darkened a bit. "You."

"I'm going to need a little more than that," she laughed softly, her eyes reddening gradually again at the corners, glistening in the pale light. At his rueful look, she shook her head. "I'm not budging on this. We've both been through a lot and I'm not sure what you need, but I need clarity. I'm a scientist. I want the facts."

"The facts happen to be that you are the most dazzling frustration to have ever fallen before me, Cassandra, and it was never in the delicate form of starlight or a ray from the sun; you were a meteor that crash-landed in my thousandth darkest hour and blinded me with what I had never believed existed in my world of impossibilities," he murmured intensely. Andie could barely breathe. "I look at you and can still barely see for the brilliance you are. You ask me why I was cross with you in the halls of mirrors and yet it is so horrendously clear; you came to me when I was entrenched in my absolution of having nothing and suddenly I had everything while knowing everything would walk away from me the moment the journey was over. I had my time and magic in spades after you were gone and it was all I had wanted until _I didn't want it_.

"No, I did not want you to leave, you silly girl. You had to leave. You would have never forgiven yourself had you left and I would have never forgiven myself if I had convinced you to stay. You could not part from your family and I could not part from my kingdom, at least not until I knew it would be in good care. It is now. That is why I am here. Now, I have a question for _you_. I want to know what happens now."

She felt on the verge of tears, but held herself back. "That isn't exactly a question."

"It is close enough," Jareth declared surely. "What do _you_ want?"

Andie felt her throat ache as it constricted around uncertain words never born into the electrically charged air between them. Everything felt so very still and the woman who had become known to the Labyrinthians as both the Girl who Reordered Time and, on a few occasions, the Once and Future Queen—though the latter was a whispered title—wondered if perhaps time had stopped all over again. Finally, one slid past her lips and pierced the quiet. "You."

"Again?" he inquired, playing the part of the conceited monarch, but hanging on her whispered utterances like lifelines.

She shook her head a little at his antics. "I want _you_."

Jareth smirked faintly, still toying with her. "Say your right words."

Andie bit down a smile even as a single tear escaped her right eye. "I wish—"

"Not those, silly girl," he chuckled, though he continued to watch her closely.

She bit her lip and hesitated for a solid minute before allowing herself to mumble those three fate-sealing words: "I love you."

Her heart sunk into her stomach as he continued to stare at her, not saying a word and letting the silence stretch over some slowly forming new wounds. Why had she said that? He'd clearly meant something else, he couldn't have been digging for _that_ tragic phrase! If she'd just taken long enough to consider all her—

"How you turn my world, you precious thing."

She snapped out of her panicked thoughts to find him just before her, his hands a breath away from cradling her face between them as he leaned down and stole her foolish doubts with a kiss they had both ached for for much too long.

* * *

And this is where it ends. Unless I follow my poorer judgment and publish some separate crack chapters for post-"Happily Ever After" nonsense. These chapters will likely come about at some point, as I don't foresee myself getting any less thrilled about the idea of Sarah as Jareth's mother-in-law (and abusing that power, of course). Plus, you know, fluff and absurdities. Maaaybe some smut. Maybe. All of this is a strong maybe. So... We'll see. After all, it's only forever. Not long at all... ;) All references aside, thanks so much for everyone who read and reviewed (and those who will read and review in the future), it's been a real pleasure. xo


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